Lifelike Shadows
by frostykitten
Summary: A scream tore from her lips when something grabbed her and hauled her to her feet."Tell me you can see me!" A frantic voice said. The last thing Hermione expected to find while helping her Muggle cousin was the missing Malfoy, now she's stuck with him.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: Okay, I know you can never have too much editing, but I've been using the spare time I would normally use to write to edit the Painting Knows, and it's beginning to drive me insane. I've figured out before that I need to have more than one story going at once so I have something to turn to if I need a break from one of them, so here's yet another story... As it frequently seems to happen, the idea for the main part of this one came while I was on the edge of sleep, which was annoying because I had to get up and write it down before I forgot.**

**Thanks to GreekGirl for betaing and for the encouragement!**

**Note: Draco is NOT a vampire... Just in case you read the sunlight thing and think he is.**

**~Frosty**

**Disclaimer: Not. Mine. Writing disclaimers annoy me, and I have a habit of forgetting them, so the characters, etc. will continue to not belong to me for the entirety of this story... And all the other ones.**

Draco looked down at his hand and frowned; something was seriously wrong with him. Sure, he had been affiliated with the dark side during the war, but this was getting ridiculous.

His problems all started when he began to feel uncomfortable in direct sunlight. This hadn't been a big deal because he'd always done his best to avoid the sunlight – pale complexion and all that. When his head started to hurt him though, he'd begun to get concerned.

The moronic Healers at St. Mungos had been clueless as to what could possibly be causing his discomfort in sunlight, they'd even gone as far as suggesting that it could possibly be a psychological problem to do with his involvement in the war. The incompetence they allowed to fester inside the walls of that hospital of late was astounding.

It wasn't long after his trip to the hospital that his hands and feet had started to darken and blend in with the shadows before fading back to their normal pale white. Soon after that, the spots of shadow on his skin were traveling gradually up his arms and legs until he could completely blend into darkness. Around this time, he noticed that he was developing the same sensitivity to _all _light which only added to the severity of his situation.

It was with an almost resigned acceptance that he noticed that he was starting to turn transparent when he was in dark spaces. It was like he was starting to _become_ a shadow, and _still _the Healers didn't believe him. Draco was pretty sure that if he showed up at the hospital one more time, they were going to institutionalize him. Sure, the padded walls would be entertaining for about five minutes, but then the mind-numbing boredom would set in and he'd run the risk of _actually_ going insane.

Despite his... affliction, Draco was still a Malfoy, and as such, wasn't about to let some strange illness stop him from taking care of the Malfoy estate and companies. As the last remaining Malfoy –both of his parents hadn't survived the war- it fell to Draco to make sure he stayed as filthy rich as he had become used to before the whole Voldemort mess had even started. Sure he could –and did- pay people to take care of those things for him, but occasionally he had to oversee a meeting or sign something in person. It was an annoying job, but it was worth the piles of gold in his multiple family vaults.

He snapped out of his thoughts when the annoying little man that handled most of the Malfoy accounts cleared his throat.

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm sure your hand is fascinating, but we're on a schedule today." The mousy man said briskly. Draco's eyebrow rose. Did this man actually think he could get away with talking to him like that?

He watched as the man paled and started stuttering his apologies. That was better. The man, Henderson? Michelson? Was a minion, and as such, should never speak to him with anything other than respect – and possibly some variation of awe and worship.

The meeting continued uneventfully and Draco managed to escape after a reasonable period of time. He glared up at the sun as he exited the building. If his "condition" continued to get worse, he was going to have to get one of his minions... _employees_ to follow him around with a black umbrella to block out the light. He cringed just thinking of the teasing that would result from _that_.

"Draco!" Someone in the crowd called. The blond sidestepped under an awning to keep him out of the sun while he turned to face Greg. The large man was shoving shoppers out of his way to reach his friend.

"What're you doing here?" Draco asked, with a little more accusation in his tone than he'd intended. He was more snappish than normal because of the burning feeling lingering on his skin from the sun exposure he'd just been through.

Goyle was used to Draco's mood swings and was completely unruffled by the tone the blond was using. He knew that Draco could be bitchier than a hormonal hippogriff when something was bothering him, so he didn't take it personally.

"Part of my parole is to go to the Muggle world every three months." He held up a flyer. "I want you to come with me to see this."

The eyebrow was raised again. "Greg, why would I want to go to the Muggle world?"

"Because part of the reason you got off without parole was that I spoke at your trial, you owe me."

Draco sighed; he almost missed the days when Greg was a minion who just followed him around. Almost. It was nice to have a friend sometimes instead of a minion, but the insolence could get annoying. "Fine. When are we going to this-" he snatched the flyer and frowned at the advertisement "-what the hell is a 'dog show'?"

Greg shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't know, but she only gave me three options and this one seemed better than 'guided bus tour' or 'florist convention'."

Before Draco could even properly sneer at the options, Greg continued. "Meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow at noon." Goyle knew his blonde friend well, so didn't give Draco any time to object to the plan. He turned and left, leaving Draco stranded under the awning.

Now he was going to have to pretend nothing was wrong while Muggles and dogs surrounded him! Wasn't that just grand? His sharp grey eyes scowled at the retreating back of his friend.

* * *

Hermione sat down at her kitchen table and flipped open her paper. She nearly spit out her mouthful of coffee when she noticed the headline.

_**Malfoy Heir Disappears While Attending Dog Show**_

_While attending a Muggle dog show with friend Gregory Goyle three days ago, Draco Malfoy disappeared. Goyle stated, "he was there one minute, then when I looked back, he was nowhere to be seen". Could it be that Malfoy has discovered a new love for pet shows and run away to fulfill his dream of winning a blue ribbon, or could something more devious be afoot? Should we all be concerned that Malfoy's disappearance is a warning that the Dark Lord is going to rise again? _

_Turn to page A3 to find out more. _

She rolled her brown eyes to the ceiling. The press was really desperate for a story, who would ever believe that _Malfoy_ would want to disappear into the Muggle world? Harry was about as likely to join a Voldemort sympathizer group, as Draco Malfoy was to run away and hide in the Muggle world.

The phone rang, distracting Hermione from an internal rant about what a pureblooded prat the "Malfoy heir" was.

"Hello?"

"Hermione, your cousin needs your help."

Hermione heaved a silent sigh. Her cousin Chris had always been kind of useless, he was the type of person who threw everything into stupid schemes that never worked out and landed him with no money on his parents couch.

"What's he done this time?" Hermione asked in a resigned voice. It seemed like the family was taking turns trying to make him get a real job, and her number seemed to have come up.

"He's got it into his mind that he's a 'paranormal researcher'. I thought maybe you could go talk some sense into him."

"You're asking the only witch in the family to go convince Chris that there's no such thing as magic?" Somewhere in her mother's mind, that had probably made sense at some point. Hermione was hoping that saying it out loud would make the woman realize how poorly thought out the whole thing was.

"Maybe you could help him catch a ghost or something?" Hermione suddenly regretted explaining some of the things witches could do that most Muggles couldn't, such as see ghosts.

"Mum, I can't just take time off work! You know I'm training to be a Healer, it takes a lot of time!"

"You also told me you have a week of vacation starting today. Help your cousin, for me?" her mother pleaded.

Another silent sigh escaped her. Ever since she'd erased their memories and sent them to Australia, her parents had been able to guilt-trip her into almost anything.

"Fine. I'll go see him today. Where is he?"

* * *

She looked up at the dilapidated looking building in front of her. Chris had landed himself in some strange situations before, but this was the first time she'd been seriously concerned for his safety, the place looked like it was about to fall over any second now.

She'd been contemplating whether the frame was sturdy enough to hold the door up if she were to knock when the door opened and Chris came up to her giving her a big hug.

She pasted a fake smile on her face, feeling her cheeks stretch into an unnatural expression. Judging from the look Chris gave her, it _looked_ unnatural too.

"Hermione, are you all right?"

"Fine. Mum said you could use an assistant and I had some vacation time, so here I am."

Chris ran a hand through his hair as he looked at his cousin. Unfortunately, the Granger hair was something that many people in their family suffered with, and Chris wasn't excluded. The short length made his unruly hair stand up at random angles, adding to the crazy scientist look he seemed to prefer, with the long lab-coat and thick glasses.

"You picked a great time!" He announced, having obviously decided she wasn't as insane as her expression led him to believe.

She was almost afraid to ask. "Why is it a great time?"

"Because I've caught something! Come see."

He waved her forward and led her into what had once been the sitting room of the house. There was no furniture in the room, and large spotlights were wired to the ceiling, lighting everything in blinding light. There was a small tent-like structure in the middle of the floor, the only spot of darkness in the otherwise, brightly lit room. It didn't look like its thick canvas walls would hold up against the rain, but they easily blocked the light. Hermione raised a skeptical eyebrow at the whole thing; what kind of monster would fit in a tent that would barely hold three people standing up?

Hermione gave him a skeptical look, she couldn't think of anything that could be caught by some lights and a tent. She was also doubtful that whatever was in there was actually a magical creature. The poor guy had probably found a draft and thought he had a ghost in there because there was a cold spot.

"Chris... What've you caught?"

Instead of answering her, he made a shushing motion and dragged her into the tent by her sleeve.

The inside of the tent was pitch-black. It seemed even darker because they'd just come from the well-lit room into the dingy darkness inside the tent. She crossed her arms and waited for her eyes to adjust enough to see, or for something supernatural to make itself known.

"I don't think there's anything here..." She said hesitantly after what felt like an hour, but was probably closer to five minutes. When the only thing you have to listen to is your cousins wheezing breaths while you try to penetrate through almost complete darkness in an enclosed space, it can get a little uncomfortable.

"There is! Maybe it only comes out when there's only one person here." Chris looked around the tent. "Close your eyes so you don't lose your night-vision, I'm going to go wait in the other room until something appears to you, be careful! I still don't know what its capable of!"

Hermione sighed but nodded. It didn't seem like she'd be able to get out of this without humoring him.

"Might as well make myself comfortable," she muttered as she sank down to the floor.

A small scream tore from her lips when something grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to her feet. Her wand was out and pointed in the direction of her assailant before she'd even consciously registered that there was something else in the tent with her. Whatever was there was holding her arm in a death-grip as she tried to squirm away.

"Tell me you can see me!" A frantic voice said.

"I can't see anything, it's too dark in here!" She snapped. The voice sounded too frantic to intend her harm. Hermione had become relatively adept at determining when someone wanted to hurt her and when someone was just panicking - it took practice, but between the war and her Healer training, she'd had plenty of it.

Hermione lit her wand and stared in disbelief at the frantic grey eyes looking back at her. "Malfoy?" She asked in shock. Wasn't he supposed to be missing?

He actually sagged to the floor in relief, refusing to loosen his grip on her arm, she was dragged to the ground with him. It was like he was afraid that if he let go of her, he'd disappear.

"Granger, something's wrong with me. You're an annoyingly righteous Gryffindor, so you have to help me." He tightened his grip on her arm to accentuate his point.

Hermione yanked her arm out of his grasp, she wasn't going to just sit there and let him order her around while he threw insults. She watched in horror as Malfoy faded back into the shadows that immersed the both of them.

"Malfoy?" She asked again, slightly worried that she'd done something to make him disappear. Though she didn't want anything to do with him, she also didn't actively wish him harm. He was a horrible, rotten git, but he didn't deserve to hide out in a tent with only Chris and his asthmatic breathing and dubious paranormal tests to keep him company.

The hand grabbed her arm again, with less urgency this time. Curiously, she watched closely as first the hand that was touching her and then the rest of him appeared before her eyes.

"Can you see me now?" At her nod, he looked relieved, but didn't drag her to the floor again. He must have reached his limit for physical expressions of his emotions for the day.

"Granger, could you... _please_ get me out of this bloody tent?" He said the word 'please' like it physically hurt him - she didn't think it was something that came from his mouth all that frequently.

She couldn't just leave him there at the mercy of Chris and his array of Muggle ghost-hunting technology.

"Fine," she sighed. The gentle squeeze she felt was all the thanks she was going to get and she knew it. "Why couldn't you get out of here yourself?"

"Don't you think I would've done that if I could've?" He snarled. "When I'm not touching you, I fade into a shadow, and I can't go out in the lights."

Hermione mentally ran through every spell and potion she could think of that would cause something like that to happen, but couldn't seem to think of anything.

"Chris!" She yelled, startling Malfoy into dropping her arm and disappearing. It was kind of ironic that he had once considered himself too good to soil his pureblood skin by touching her and now he needed to touch her in order to solidify.

Chris ripped open the flaps of the tent frantically, causing Hermione to wince a little. She probably should have called for him more calmly so he didn't think whatever monster was lurking in the tent had harmed her.

"Are you okay?" He demanded, brandishing his flashlight around the tent like it would banish the monsters.

"I'm fine, but I need you to turn off the lights out there. And your flashlight while you're at it."

Chris looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "I can't do that, it'll escape." His eyes widened and he grabbed her shoulders in a death-grip. "It's possessed you!"

He turned and ran from the tent again, probably to go get holy water or something. A mental image suddenly appeared of Malfoy cringing away from the holy water and sneering as her misguided cousin threw water at him in an attempt to protect her.

"Is he always like that?" Malfoy asked a second after his large hand closed around her wrist.

Now that he was standing so close to her, it really hit her how _tall_ he was. When did Malfoy get so big? What happened to the little boy she'd slapped in third year? He'd been the same size as her back then...

"Yes." She sighed. Chris wasn't going to be much help with the lights, so she was going to have to do something about them herself. "How does he even know you're here?"

Malfoy frowned. "If there's enough light to cast a shadow, then I show up as a shadow on the walls, otherwise, I just blend into the darkness. He figured out how to use the angles of his giant lights to trap me in this bloody tent."

_Wow. Maybe Chris wasn't as bad at the supernatural hunting as the whole family seemed to think. He'd successfully trapped Malfoy when he had no idea what he was, and it had taken serious thought and preparation._

She made sure her cousin was nowhere to be seen before poking her wand out of the tent and blacking-out the glass covering the lights. The room was plunged into darkness. Chris' distressed yelp at the sudden darkness could be heard from the next room as she pulled the flap aside and Malfoy followed her out, still holding her wrist.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: I thought about making this a mystery and having a long, drawn-out sequence where Draco and Hermione are trying to figure out what in the world's going on, but I've already done that – twice. So, this story is going to be much more up front about what's happening and more focused on the progression of their relationship.**

**Thanks to GreekGirl for betaing even though she was sick! Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited, etc!**

**~Frosty**

"Can you go in the sun?" She asked, glancing worriedly at a window, where the bright sunlight was leaking through a small crack in the thick curtains.

The blonde hesitated, it was against a Slytherin's nature to be free with information, but Granger was the only one who knew he wasn't missing, and he needed her help. Draco knew he was going to set aside his pride and beliefs for the moment and answer her incessant questions if he was ever going to be free of her.

"I could before, it just hurts. I can't be in the light when I'm not solid though..." Malfoy seemed to have realized that he was pretty much dependent on her at the moment, and he should probably treat her as a human being.

He wasn't so bad to be around when he wasn't sneering at her.

"Hermione, are you all right in there?" Chris asked, appearing in the doorway, shining his torch around the room in search of his cousin.

Before Malfoy had a chance to let go of her wrist, the beam of light caught him. Hermione watched the blond anxiously, a little worried that he was going to burst into flames or something equally dramatic, but nothing happened.

"Hermione, who's this?" Chris asked, snapping her attention away from Malfoy.

His eyes darted down to the hold Malfoy had on her wrist and then back up to her face, a question in his eyes.

"This is... a friend from school. He's just come to tell me that... there's going to be a reunion very soon and we're needed for the planning committee."

Judging from Malfoy's snort and Chris' confused look, her lie was nowhere near believable.

"We should be going now, don't let your creature thing escape." She added.

Well, her lie hadn't been convincing, but her distraction had. Chris immediately scrambled back into the other room, presumably to grab more torches and keep the 'shadow monster' in the tent.

"I always knew Muggles were inferior, but that man's level of incompetence is worrying for the species." Draco snorted.

"He managed to catch you so either he's a little more competent than you give him credit for or you're a lot less competent than you like to think." the brunette responded. When she didn't receive a scathing response, her chocolate eyes glanced over at the blond. Was he sulking? He was! Very mature.

Hermione walked into the entranceway and opened the door, looking at the sunny streets outside and then dubiously back to Malfoy. He was leaning as far as their arms would allow away from the sunlight that was streaming in and appeared to be attempting to tug her back with him.

"New plan." She announced quietly, shutting the door with a bang that shook the house so Chris would think they'd left.

"I'm going to have to take you side-along." Malfoy didn't seem all too pleased by her whispered sentence, but what was he expecting her to do?

The both of them threw glances over their shoulders to make sure Chris hadn't heard. Hermione had a feeling that Malfoy might be a little weary of her cousin since he'd managed to trap him with only Muggle instruments. Maybe Malfoy would come out of this with a new respect for Muggles and their technology.

It wasn't necessary to warn the prat to hold on, so she only gave him a significant look. She knew he understood when his held onto her wrist tightened minutely. They disappeared without a sound and popped back into existence in Hermione's living room.

"Where are we?" Malfoy asked. His lip curled in distaste as he took in her flat. It wasn't large or decorated nicely, obviously she was too busy working that she didn't really have the time for pointless things like making sure the drapes matched her throw pillows but it was comfortable, so she didn't really care how it looked, though now that she was seeing it from a stranger's perspective, perhaps that exact shade of blue didn't look the best with the purple pillows...

"We're in my flat. I needed somewhere to think about what to do about our problem. I'd ask you to sit down, but I want tea and you can't exactly let go if you want to stay visible." Hermione wanted to hit herself the second the words left her mouth; our problem? It was completely his problem! She knew that in the same situation, Malfoy would have let her stay trapped in a tent and found her entire situation hilarious, so why was she helping him? Stupid conscience.

A long arm snaked around her and closed the curtains on one of the windows; he then walked to her other side of the room and did the same for the only other window. The hand dropped her wrist and she watched as he disappeared.

Immediately, a Malfoy-shaped shadow appeared on the wall.

It was immensely disturbing to know that Malfoy was in the room and could see everything she was doing, but she couldn't really see him. Once it got dark enough, she wouldn't be able to see him at all. A shudder worked its way up her spine; magic could sometimes do disturbing things.

Trying to block disturbing thoughts about what she was going to do if they hadn't fixed him by the time night fell, she prepared tea. She set out an extra cup and shot a questioning look towards the shadow in the corner.

"Do you want tea? Can you even eat?" Her mother had always taught her to be polite to guests, no matter who they were. It had been ingrained into her to the point that it hadn't occurred to her to have tea without offering her guest some – even if he was Malfoy.

He grabbed her wrist and started preparing his own cup. "I can eat; I just don't get hungry when I'm a shadow. Just like I can still hear your grating voice, but I can't answer." There was really no harm in answering some of her more harmless questions; maybe it would get her to fall silent.

Ah, blissful silence, how he missed it already.

He watched with horror as Granger grabbed a lollipop out of a vat of them in one of the cupboards and used it to stir her tea before popping it in her mouth. What was wrong with the woman? Was that some kind of strange Muggle habit? Before he could ridicule her strange habits, she started again with her incessant questioning.

"Do you sleep as a shadow?" Curious by nature, Hermione wasn't about to let him get away with giving her so little information when she had so many questions.

He seemed to be thinking back, head tilted to the side in thought and eyebrows drawn together. Did he sleep as a shadow? It didn't seem like it, he felt pretty conscious the whole time, but he hadn't felt tired. "No. I only seem to feel tired while I'm solid," was his absent reply; he was too focused on the implications of the answer to add the proper sneer or condescending look to his answer.

He looked like he was dying to direct a snarly comment at her, but he glanced at the hand still holding her arm and visibly did away with the urge. The whole thing would be almost amusing if Hermione didn't have the sneaking suspicion that Malfoy's presence would very rapidly become unbearably annoying.

Just to test how far his newfound temporary civility would last, she continued. "My guess is that when you're incorporeal, you're in some kind of suspended state... I wonder if you stop aging while you're a shadow?"

"If I knew the answer to all of these questions, I'd fix whatever was wrong with me and get out of here! I think I may have died and gone to some kind of hell where I don't age and can't tell you what I really think because you're the only one who can see me." He growled, attempting to glare a hole in the side of her head. That appeared to be the limit. What, three questions and an observation before he snapped and said something insulting? Popping her lollipop back into her mouth, Hermione watched him carefully.

"Would you like something to eat?" She asked innocently, as if she hadn't just purposely provoked him.

"You're going to cook?" He looked her up and down doubtfully. With all that hair, it would be impossible to cook without getting some in the food, and he doubted she'd be persuaded to wear a hairnet. He'd looked around the kitchen, finding there wasn't much food in the open cupboards, and the large, humming box had also been pretty barren when she'd opened it to get the milk.

Hermione put her nose in the air. "No, I was going to order a pizza."

The git seemed a little doubtful about ordering Muggle pizza –despite the fact that Muggles had invented the food– but his hunger obviously won out over his hatred of everything Muggle.

"No anchovies." He ordered after a pause.

Hermione wholeheartedly agreed with him, but she didn't say anything because that would be admitting there was something of which they shared the same views – and that just couldn't happen, the Earth would implode.

Irritably finishing her candy with a loud crunch that she vindictively noticed made Malfoy cringe, Hermione moved towards the forest of take-away menus she kept on her densely populated fridge-door.

She called in the pizza order while Malfoy held her wrist and watched her intently to make sure she didn't order anything fishy out of spite – despite popular belief held by the general public, Gryffindor's could be just as spiteful as Slytherin's. Draco knew this to be fact, but popular belief was severely biased, and it was all Voldemort's fault.

"As nice as this 'visit' is-" he lifted his lip in distaste to leave no doubt that he was being sarcastic "-when are you going to get around to doing something. I don't know what Muggles do for problem solving, but I doubt even their barbaric methods call for tea and pizza. You might be desperate for company, but I have friends who currently think I'm missing."

Twin spots of color formed on Hermione cheeks. Draco Malfoy had a talent for making her go from calm to furious in the blink of an eye. He obviously wasn't expecting the hand that came up and slapped him, as he let go of her wrist in surprise and pain when it made contact. If only all of her problems could fade away like he did...

"That's not the way you speak to someone who is doing something nice for you!"

She called to the seemingly empty flat. "You're a horrible prat who's never been anything but vile to me and I've gone out of my way to help you – something I didn't have to do. If you can't keep relatively civil, then you know where the door is!" The door creaked dramatically as she opened it, adding its own opinion on her 'guest' – at least that's what she wanted to think. Hermione watched intently to see if a shadow slid by her and out into the hallway.

When he didn't, her brown eyes glared around the room fiercely. "I'm taking your continued presence as agreement that you're not going to make comments like that again and will make an attempt at civility. And I'm eating your pizza!" She added as an afterthought.

Hermione didn't end up eating Malfoy's pizza; he grabbed her wrist as soon as the deliveryman was gone. "I won't apologize for my words, but I'll attempt to censor them more closely in the future." It looked like it pained him to say something almost apologetic to her; he must've really wanted the pizza.

She knew it was the best she was going to get out of the blighter, so she opened the pizza box and twirled it to face him as acceptance to his almost apology.

After their meal, the two of them spent a few hours flipping through every book she owned on curses –she had a large stack of them for work- in a surprisingly civil silence. Neither of them were able to find anything of any assistance, which probably explained why none of the Healers at St. Mungos had been able to diagnose Malfoy.

Hermione was practically falling asleep on the pages before she finally gave up the search. She'd really wanted Malfoy gone before she went to bed, but it seemed that wasn't something that the universe was going to allow.

Stupid universe.

That night Hermione made sure to turn on all the lights in her bedroom. She knew Malfoy wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot pole, but it was comforting to know he couldn't even enter the room without disintegrating or whatever it was that he did.

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning as she was brushing her teeth that the brunette noticed something strange. In the place where Malfoy's fingers had circled her wrist, there were thin, barely noticeable swirls. They were pearly white and so pale she'd only noticed them when her wrist had passed through a sunbeam and they'd sparkled.

Holding up her arm and turning it back and forth, she examined the disturbing new development. It was highly unlikely that something strange but unconnected to recent events would appear on the exact spot Malfoy had been touching her while under the sway of some strange magical affliction.

"Malfoy!" She yelled. He didn't appear.

Looking around the loo, she realized that there were no spots of shadow for him to use to get near her. With an annoyed sigh, her slippers scuffed across the floor and into the living room so she could shut the curtains.

A large hand grabbed her wrist and Malfoy appeared almost immediately.

"You screeched, oh shrill one?"

An attitude improvement would have been nice, but at least he wasn't insulting her blood... Ignoring his sound of protest, Hermione grabbed his wrist and moved it to her eye level.

"Let go of my wrist and show me your hand." If her theory was correct and the marking was from Malfoy touching her, it made sense that he may have developed a similar marking.

Malfoy didn't take well to orders…

"Granger, what are you on about?" He grumbled, but didn't resist as she pushed his fingers back and looked at his palm.

"Granger?" He asked when she paled.

Hermione didn't say anything, but she turned his palm to display the black swirls covering underside of his hand in a mark that looked like it would match up with the swirls she'd developed almost perfectly.

"What have you done to me?" He demanded, grabbing her shoulder with his free hand and shaking her.

Hermione slapped away the hand on her shoulder and glared at him. She maneuvered so that he was behind her and opened the nearest window, moving his grip to her other wrist and thrusting the one he usually grabbed into the sunlight.

Her eyes weren't on her wrist aside from a quick glance to ensure that it was doing the same thing it had done earlier; she was watching Malfoy's reaction.

It didn't disappoint; his eyes widened almost comically as he stepped back as far as their arms would allow.

"Do you know what this is?" She questioned, hoping he'd snap out of whatever episode he was going through.

Draco wasn't paying attention to whatever she was nattering on about; he was remembering something Snape had once told him. What had the greasy well of dark knowledge said?

_Something something dark curse something, hide this box where no one will ever find it and don't look in it._

Of course, Draco's curiosity had gotten the better of him and he'd taken one tiny peek in the box, but there had been nothing there, so he assumed no harm had been done. Now he'd developed this slight difficulty.

That didn't bode well... His lips twisted into a frown as he realized how useless the little information he'd managed to retain would be. The only thing that could be learned from it was that they both needed to talk to Snape.

"I have a sneaking suspicion I might know," he evaded. No doubt she'd go in for the kill if he told her what he suspected had happened, and he liked living – had gone through a whole lot of trouble during the war to stay that way. He wasn't about to waste all that work because Granger was pissed.

He didn't even have magic to defend himself should she start hexing...

Did he?

Curious, Draco felt his pockets for his wand. He'd been through quite a bit in the last few days, and while he wasn't able to use magic while he was a shadow, maybe he'd be able to while he was touching Granger?

He saw her tense as her hand darted into a pocket when he raised his wand.

Despite her actions, she seemed to sense somewhere in her bushy head that he didn't mean her any harm, since her widened eyes only watched him wearily.

Looking around the room, Draco decided on the couch. He changed it to a pale cream that matched the pillows and the carpet much better. It was defensive magic really; the thing had been visually assaulting him since his poor eyes had landed on the thing. Okay, his magic was still working perfectly fine. Ah, magic, he'd missed magic. While Granger was still to confused to object to his actions, he waved his wand several times, altering the entire room to something more sophisticated.

"Malfoy, why are you redecorating?" The thought that the curse had finally got to his brain and made him fancy himself an interior decorator was an amusing one, but she really didn't want to deal with a Malfoy even more mentally unstable than usual. Not that she was complaining really, the room looked much nicer than it had before – though she'd never tell him.

"If I'm going to be here even a second more, I'd prefer not to be visually assaulted... I also needed to make sure my magic still worked, I have to apparate us somewhere." He figured that she'd bitch less if he explained some of his actions, and he really needed her to bitch less if he was going to retain his sanity.

Hermione frowned at the prat, but had to admit that the room looked much better than it had before; she'd never been very good at matching colors... or furniture. But letting him redecorate under her watchful but confused eye and letting him Apparate to some unknown location were two completely different levels of trust.

"Where?"

"Spinner's End," he sighed with resignation; Severus was going to kill him.

And then Granger was going to bring him back and kill him again.

Before she could begin with the annoying questions he knew she was about to start throwing at him, Draco adjusted his grip so he was holding onto her tighter and spun on the spot, pulling her with him.

Hermione looked around the room into which they'd appeared; it was dark and musty, which was good for Malfoy since he would've been in pain from contact with the light had the room been bright.

A dark figure separated itself from the shadows, wand raised and a menacing look framed by greasy hair.

"Ah, Draco. I thought I might be seeing you soon after I saw the paper. You just couldn't keep your pointy nose to yourself, could you boy?" Snape lowered his wand to the ground when he saw that they weren't a threat.

"I gave you one small task and you somehow managed to bugger it up on a previously unheard of scale."

Hermione watched in fascination as Snape continued to chastise Malfoy and the blond didn't sneer back or object, he actually hung his head in shame – or possibly embarrassment, since Hermione wasn't sure he was capable of shame.

Who'd have thought Malfoy could actually feel embarrassed? Who'd have thought Malfoy could actually feel?

Snape seemed to notice Hermione's presence then, he turned his dark eyes to her and scrutinized her from head to foot. "Miss Granger." He greeted with a small nod in her direction.

When his scrutinizing gaze landed on Malfoy's grip on her wrist, his expression darkened and he turned back to Malfoy.

"You've gone and landed yourself in even more trouble than I thought, haven't you?" He asked Malfoy in a menacing voice, looking like he'd enjoy nothing more than to strangle the blonde.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: Hello readers! I was going to make the curse just for servants, but what use would a servant be if they could only clean or whatever one-handed and at arms length? This way ended up weird, but sort of made sense... In a twisted way.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited, etc! Also thanks to GreekGirl for betaing! **

**The movie mentioned in this chapter isn't an actual movie, so it can be whatever one you want it to be.**

**Also, in case you're confused: when Draco's a shadow, think of him as frozen in time. He won't use energy or get more tired or hungry, but he doesn't get any rest. This means that if he spends the day with (touching) Hermione, the night as a shadow, and the next day with (still touching) Hermione, it's the same as staying awake for 24 hours.**

**~Frosty**

Hermione was tired of being silent.

"Would one of you tell me what's going on?" She demanded, frustrated with being the only one in the room who didn't seem to have at least an inkling about what was happening.

Snape sneered in Malfoy's direction and turned an almost sympathetic look towards her.

"First, let me make sure my suspicions are correct. Draco, grab my wrist and let go of Miss Granger."

Draco did as he was told, refusing to make eye contact with either of the two people watching him intently. He grabbed Snape's wrist first, as instructed, and disappeared the moment his fingers lost contact with Hermione's skin.

The former Potion's Master sighed wearily. "I thought as much. Draco, I think you should explain to Miss Granger what you've dragged her into."

The blonde once again wrapped his fingers around Hermione's wrist and looked from her questioning look to his godfather's accusing one.

"Are you saying this has something to do with that box you asked me to put into one of the Malfoy vaults?" He asked, only confusing Hermione further.

"Don't pretend to be clueless boy; we both know you've figured out what's going on. It has everything to do with that box. The box I told you to open under no circumstances. And what did you go and do?"

Hermione watched as Malfoy looked embarrassed again and he paled a little. "It seemed like a normal box to me, I just took one little peek inside, and there wasn't even anything in there." He said defensively.

Snape's scowl darkened further. She was pretty sure that if there had been any plants in the room, they would have wilted from the force of his expression alone – _she_ was almost wilting from the force of his expression.

"There _was_ something in that box. Something _you_ let out when you had your little moment of complete idiocy and looked inside. If you had come to me when you first started showing symptoms, this whole mess would have been avoided. Now you've gone and dragged an innocent party into your stupid mistake."

Malfoy appeared to be trying to blend in with the back of the chair he was occupying, which would have been amusing to Hermione had she not suspected that she was going to be forced to share the outcome of Malfoy's simpleminded mistake. Her insides were twisting with the worry that the outcome of this conversation was going to be something immensely unpleasant and her knuckles were white as she gripped the arms of her chair. If he hadn't been so rigid himself, Malfoy would have noticed how tense her arm was.

"You could have told me what was _in_ the box, instead of just giving it to me and telling me to hide it in a vault!" It seemed that Malfoy had reached the limit of his ability to remain silent in the face of scolding.

To Hermione's surprise and terror, Snape looked almost sympathetic under his disapproving sneer. "It was a very dark curse, designed for cheating husbands in order to avoid detection from suspicious wives. The spell would be placed on their mistress so she could stay in the house as a shadow until she was... needed and then disappear again once finished. If the caster still hadn't released the victim before their death, the victim would then be forced to live out the rest of their existence as a shadow, which was why it was outlawed."

Hermione was horrified that someone would invent a curse like that - it was essentially taking someone's life away just because they had to be a secret!

Malfoy seemed to be thinking along different lines. "You mean I'm a _mistress_?" He sounded as shaken as Hermione felt, but she had no sympathy for the git.

"Don't be a moron Draco, that's just what the spell was originally used for." Snape snapped at him, looking like he'd very much like to reach over and cuff Malfoy's blonde head.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted-" he shot yet another withering glare at Draco "-the original purpose was for cheating husbands, but it later changed to a form of punishment; dooming the victim for an eternity of living as a shadow without the ability to contact anyone or see the sun."

"How come Malfoy isn't a shadow when he touches me?" Hermione asked.

"I was getting to that Granger." Now it was Hermione's turn to have the glare directed at her; if she hadn't built up an immunity through years of exposure to it in Potion's class, she may have burst into flames right there. "Have either of you noticed any strange markings?"

Wordlessly, Malfoy's other hand closed around Hermione's wrist before he pulled the other hand off and showed Snape his palm.

"I feared as much." The older man sighed. "To prevent the victim from going for help, there was a condition added to the curse; should the cursed touch another magical being for a prolonged period of time, they will be bound together. Originally, the caster of the spell would be able to call the shadow to them against its will. I imagine this served to conveniently bring them forward for torture, though I'm not sure the version you're facing is potent enough to include this condition."

Hermione loved magic, but evil spells like this curse made her doubt human's ability to deal with that much power. It was just sadistic and evil to do something so horrible to another living being as she shivered in revulsion at the thought. Malfoy must have felt her shiver because she saw him give her a strange look out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't look his way.

"Is there a counter-curse?" She asked hopefully, refusing to believe that Malfoy would have to be in contact with her to exist for the rest of her life.

Snape's grim face made her stomach drop. "I'm afraid not. I was attempting to find one –which is why I had the box- but I was forced to give up my project without a subject under the influence of the curse - I refused to subject another person to something so foul. I may be able to invent a permanent solution for the two of you, but I suspect it will take me some time, and I'd need Draco here for tests."

Lovely. She may not be stuck with Malfoy for the rest of her life, but she was stuck with him for 'some time'.

"I did, however, manage to develop a potion that will allow Draco to stay corporeal provided he stays within twenty metres of you, Miss Granger. It will take a while to brew, but I imagine it would be an improvement on your current situation."

That sounded like the best option she was going to get for the moment, so she nodded gratefully.

"Thank you," she said with a relieved smile, vaguely amused at how uncomfortable Snape looked when faced with her gratitude.

Malfoy stood beside her and she elbowed him a few times, until he echoed her thanks in a sullen voice.

"I'll get it to you as soon as I can, then I can get to work on something that completely solves your problem." Snape promised, obviously anxious for the two of them to leave. "After the potion has taken effect, I will be able to work on Draco without you touching him and facing possible backlash from whatever spell I cast." He added as an afterthought.

Hermione took the hint and apparated the both of them back to her flat. The pressure on her wrist disappeared the moment their feet were firmly on the ground. She watched as Malfoy's shadow slunk into the corner of the room and rolled her eyes; was he pouting because he'd been scolded, or because he was stuck with her for the foreseeable future?

Deciding it was best that she ignore the prat and leave him to his childish activities, Hermione went to her secret stash of lollipops and shoved one in her mouth. She knew it was a horrible habit to constantly be eating the things, but a childhood with two dentists in the house had left her deprived of candies. During the war, she'd taken to toting several of the sugary treats around with her for when she needed a little break from everything going on around her, and she hadn't seemed to be able to break herself of the habit once the fighting was finished.

The phone rang, and she watched as Malfoy started and his shadow-head looked around for the source of the noise.

"It's the phone," she sighed, guessing he wouldn't understand, but feeling like she should tell him anyway. Her urge was similar to the way parents explained absolutely everything to children much too young to understand the concepts on which they were being educated.

"Hello?" Hermione asked when she picked up the receiver. It was strange talking on the phone while Malfoy was in the room, but it seemed that she was going to have to adjust.

"Hermione, why is your cousin telling me you released his monster?"

The brunette covered the receiver and groaned out loud. It was just one thing after the other! What happened to her vacation? She quickly crunched and chewed the rest of her candy; she wouldn't put it past her mum to _hear_ that she was holding a teeth-rotting treat.

Malfoy's shadow slunk closer along the wall and stopped entirely too close; he was obviously trying to eavesdrop.

"Hello to you too mum. I know you really want to make small-talk, but I'm kind of in a hurry, so can we jump right to the purpose for your call?" Merlin, the prat was rubbing off on her and he'd only been near her for a day!

"Hermione," her mother said warningly.

"Well, his 'monster' was actually one of my classmates from school suffering from a curse, so I thought I should probably release him."

Her mum sighed as if Hermione had done something wrong. She wasn't about to apologise for doing the right thing - no matter how much she may come to regret that decision.

"Chris was quite upset, so I told him you were more than willing to work with him tomorrow and help him find another monster." What happened to karma? It seemed like the universe was just _heaping_ on the punishments. Had she not helped save the entire wizarding world from one of the biggest threats in recent knowledge? Assisting with the downfall of Voldemort should have counted for _something_ karma-wise.

Hermione didn't bother covering the receiver when she groaned that time. She hadn't lived with her parents for years, but her mum was still setting up play-dates with her cousins just like when she was five. Her mum seemed to have a hard time accepting the fact that her daughter was all grown up.

Knowing she wasn't going to be able to get out of it, Hermione eventually agreed. After all, she did feel a _little_ guilty about ruining Chris' dream, he'd seemed so _excited_ about the 'monster' and she'd gone and ruined it.

During the war, Hermione had learned that if she let her stress build up, she was going to break down. Calming breaths were important, but they could only do so much; they didn't compare to actual relaxation.

She quickly made some microwave popcorn and settled into the newly-coloured couch. It seemed fluffier somehow; did Malfoy know cushion fluffing spells? The thought made her snicker a little; wouldn't he have servants for things like that?

The closed curtains made it seem darker than it should be, so it _felt_ like it was late even though it wasn't much past dinnertime. She needed a nice movie to go along with her popcorn.

Even before she'd been in battles, Hermione had never liked war movies; the thought of the unnecessary deaths left her depressed for days after seeing them. Now that the war was over, her tastes leaned even further towards sappy romances and historical dramas. She chose one of her favourite historical romances and snuggled under a nice, fluffy blanket so she'd be a comfortable temperature.

She was so engrossed in the movie that the approaching shadow sliding across the floor towards her managed to escape her notice. A warmth around her wrist was her only warning before Malfoy's weight was squishing her poor feet against the cushion they'd been resting on.

"Done sulking?" She asked as she shoved him off her feet and resettled herself so that he could more comfortably keep contact with her while joining her on the sofa.

He scowled. "I wasn't sulking, I was thinking. I need to use your owl before the annoying little man who runs my businesses gets ideas into his head to sell and keep the profits for himself."

Malfoy actually did responsible things occasionally? She was just learning all kinds of disturbing things about him. He was supposed to be an immature, rich prat, not _responsible. _Her nose wrinkled at the thought.

Without rising, Hermione reached over and rifled through the drawer of the end-table beside her. She found a pen and a pad of paper and tossed them in Malfoy's direction. Not bothering to wait for thanks –she knew she wasn't getting any- she turned back to the movie and did her best to ignore him. It was surprisingly difficult to pretend that he wasn't there, after living alone for a while, it was strange to hear someone breathing beside her while she watched a movie.

Hermione tilted her head to the side and tried to remember the last time she'd interacted with someone in a purely social setting; she really needed to get out more. Maybe when this whole thing with Malfoy was over she'd send an owl to all of her friends and they could have a party or something, she'd been so busy with her Healer work that she hadn't talked to any of them in a while.

The scratching of Malfoy's pen stopped and he started an irritated muttering under his breath.

"What?" she asked.

"I need to address the letter, but can't for the life of me remember his name. I call him 'head minion' when I absolutely have to address him." He looked her up and down – not that he could see much through the blanket, but he seemed satisfied with what he saw and she felt slightly violated and _very_ concerned about where his line of thought was headed. "Despite the disaster that resides on your head, your looks are passable. You're going to have to pretend to be one of those airheads that I date."

Hermione sputtered and nearly choked on the popcorn in her mouth. "There's no way I'm doing that," she told him without even taking her eyes off of the television. She wasn't going to bother telling him that people would respond better if he put that teeny tiny bit of extra effort into remembering their names. As for the girls, at least he was willing to admit the vapid slags he dated were about as deep as a teaspoon.

She understood his logic though – which was disturbing in itself. He didn't want people to think that he'd disappeared with Hermione Granger, and if he showed up with her undisguised that's exactly what everyone would think. Dressing up as the type of person that occasionally visited him at his workplace would take all the attention away from her and put it back on him. An added bonus of the scheme would be that no one would think to look for him in Hermione's flat.

Before he could say anything, an evil idea occurred to her. "Actually, I will; but you're going to owe me a favour."

Malfoy looked a little weary of the evil grin that had spread across her face, but he seemed to decide that it was worth the risk because he nodded abruptly.

The brunette held out her hand for him to shake; when he heard what she was planning, he wasn't going to be happy and she wanted more than a nod to confirm he would go along with her plan. There was a lot of reluctance in both his movements and eyes, but he eventually shook her hand.

"Good. In the morning we'll go to your company, and in the afternoon, you'll pretend to be a monster so my cousin can catch you... again."

"I _knew_ I wouldn't like whatever came after that grin," he grumbled. Her bushy hair obviously hid a devious and malevolent mind almost worthy of Slytherin.

Suddenly, he snatched the bag of popcorn away from her and tried a piece. It was probably his idea of revenge, but it wasn't working. Hermione glared, but didn't bother taking the bag back; she'd been finished anyway, and it wasn't worth the fight.

"It's no wonder you're so small, you never eat proper meals," Malfoy observed. He crunched another piece of popcorn and made a face at all the salt that he'd just consumed, the stuff wasn't near filling enough to count as a meal.

"Are you going to scold me for not consuming my recommended daily nutrition?" There was probably an ulterior motive hidden somewhere in his seemingly innocent comment; he was a Slytherin, the only type of innocent they ever did was the superficial kind.

Head tilted to the side, Hermione regarded her forced flat-mate. Was he commenting because he was hungry but didn't want to ask for something, or was he just trying to hide his digs deeper under the surface of his comments?

Whatever he had intended to say was interrupted by a huge yawn. Hermione actually heard his jaw creak from the strain.

Nervously, she counted up the hours he'd been awake; the few hours with Chris, the searching through medical texts until late into the night, their time with Snape... Not to mention whatever time he'd spent awake the day he'd gone missing. Bugger, she'd hoped her suspicions had been wrong.

"Why are you looking at me like you'd rather snog a Blast-Ended Skrewt than tell me what you're thinking?" Malfoy asked wearily when he finished yawning and noticed her expression.

"Because I'd rather snog a Blast-Ended Skrewt than tell you what I'm thinking."

"Spit it out then. Chances are it'll amuse me." He smirked.

He was such a bastard! Normally, that would be true and bad thoughts to her would be just hilarious to any Slytherin, but this time her bad news included him. At least she could take comfort in knowing that he would be equally if not more disturbed by her revelation than she'd been.

"If you're going to be any use tomorrow, you're going to need to sleep tonight." There it was, fast, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Hopefully he was quicker than Ron on the uptake.

Malfoy immediately looked like he sincerely regretted having asked anything. "I knew this was all a clever ruse to get into my knickers."

Much _much _quicker than Ron. Was that the best he could come up with? He must have really been disturbed by the concept of sleeping with her, his answer wasn't scathing at all, and the only insult was implying that she wanted him, which he wouldn't consider an insult at all.

"Don't kid yourself Malfoy. I really would rather snog the Skrewt than go anywhere _near_ your knickers."

"You have an unnatural fixation with snogging a Skrewt."

"You're the one who brought it – you know what? Never mind. I'm going to bed, if you want to be awake tomorrow, I suggest you follow - though I'd prefer you didn't."

Malfoy followed her into the bedroom with remarkably few complaints considering he was Malfoy and complaining was like _breathing _to the man – well, complaining and insulting.

Pillows. She needed a wall of pillows to separate the two of them if she was going to feel comfortable enough to get to sleep. "I need two hands, go lurk in the corner or something."

Malfoy actually obeyed her, dropping her wrist and slinking away, putting as much distance between the two of them as her small bedroom would allow. Did he need the space for mental preparation time or something?

Hermione had always been fond of pillows, going as far as to pile eight or so on her bed. She had never been more grateful for her habit of surrounding herself with softness. It only took her seconds to build a nice big mountain of pillows to act as a separator.

"Okay Malfoy, you're sleeping on that side." She indicated the far side of the pillow mountain as she snuggled into her side.

The shadow moved closer to the bed, but he didn't grab onto her. It took her a minute to realize that she was completely covered by the blanket and he _couldn't_ touch her. Reluctantly, she flung an arm over the pillow mountain so he could hold her wrist as he slept.

"Who's the immature one now?" He grumbled after he was once again in contact with her wrist.

Okay, so her aversion to touching him wasn't exactly mature, but he shouldn't be calling her names because of it; she knew he shared her aversion. Unwilling to fight with him into the night, Hermione ignored his comment and tried to sleep.

Surprisingly, she actually managed to get to sleep despite the evil git hogging most of the covers.

It felt like she'd only just closed her eyes when she had to blink them open again because there was muffled swearing coming from the other side of the bed. More interested in sleep than whatever was happening on the opposite side of the pillow mountain, Hermione snuggled deeper into her blankets and went back to sleep.

The second time she was starting to get annoyed and by the third time, she was irritated enough to pick up one of the pillows and whack him with it. "Malfoy, I'm trying to sleep!" She snapped.

He growled in frustration before shoving the pillow mountain to the floor and grabbing her around the waist. Naturally, Hermione fought him fiercely.

"Dammit Granger! I'm not trying to do whatever it is you're thinking." He yelled, as he finally managed to pin her hands to her sides, where they couldn't hit him anymore. She was stuck on her back staring up at him with large, startled eyes. "Believe me. This is as unpleasant for me as it is for you, but I keep dropping your hand in my sleep and waking up when I turn into a shadow."

Hermione calmed down marginally when he released one of her hands and loosened his grip on her wrist, but she tensed up again when he turned her onto her side and pulled her against him.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're doing?" Her voice went up into a squeak at the end as he flung an arm around her waist and lifted her shirt just enough to rest his hand on the exposed sliver of bare skin.

"I'm trying to get some sleep. Now be quiet," he grumbled.

Had she not been so monumentally uncomfortable, Hermione would have been amused that Malfoy's blood prejudices only seemed to matter to him when they didn't interfere with his sleeping habits. It took surprisingly little time for her to get to sleep considering how close she was to the enemy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A/N: A huge thank you to GreekGirl for bravely battling the evils of technology and its many malfunctions to get this all beated for me, and by extension, you guys. Also thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**~Frosty**

The room was dark when she woke up, something she wasn't used to, even when Malfoy wasn't a shadowy figure lurking around her flat, Hermione usually slept with at least a nightlight. It seemed that Malfoy had done away with her faithful little light sometime during the night. Prat.

It was then that Hermione realised that she'd woken up alone. The other side of the bed was still warm, so Malfoy couldn't have been gone long though. She reluctantly pulled herself out of her comfy bed and dragged her reluctant body to the shower to get ready for what was sure to be a horrifying day.

* * *

"Granger."

She squeaked and nearly dropped the frying pan when Malfoy appeared beside her. The time period between when he touched her and he solidified was getting shorter and shorter. She was unsure if this was something good or bad; either way, it was annoying.

"What Malfoy?"

"I need to use the loo." He told her reluctantly.

Her nose wrinkled in annoyance and distaste as she remembered the first time they'd tried a trip to the washroom.

_They'd been studying her medical books for what felt like forever when Malfoy started shifting in his chair. Hermione tried to ignore it, but after a while, it was really starting to get on her nerves._

"_Malfoy, do you need the loo or something?" She finally demanded, not really expecting an answer. She'd been hoping that mentioning it would make him realize that he was fidgeting and he'd stop._

_He glared at her for bringing it up, but nodded reluctantly. Hermione would have been amused that he needed to ask her to take him to the washroom if it didn't mean that she had to go in there with him. She wondered what she'd done to deserve this; it was a whole new level of mortifying to bring your enemy to the toilet and hold his hand the entire time he was in there._

_With a huge sigh, she stood up and led him to the loo, where they both stood awkwardly._

_Hermione had never been as glad as she was that moment that she had an extensive knowledge of obscure spells. She waved her wand and put up an opaque, soundproof barrier all around herself. While she was inside her bubble, she could pretend that Malfoy wasn't there and retreat inside her mind. All she had to do was pretend the grip on her wrist was someone she _wanted_ near her and that the tiled floor was sand, and a million other things were different until she was on a nice beach somewhere with an attractive man who didn't know a word of English with which to insult her._

_Malfoy poked his head through the barrier after a second, he'd probably been talking to her on the other side and grown frustrated when he couldn't see or hear her response. _

"_Soundproof and visually opaque barrier that doesn't actually restrict movement," he said in an impressed voice. The realization seemed to hit him that he'd shown something she'd done had impressed him, so he smoothed his face into a haughty scowl before pulling his head out of her bubble._

_She felt him tug her forward a few steps. It was the perfect time for her to despair over the insanity her life had descended into. One day into her vacation and she was already in way over her head._

_Malfoy's head poked back into her bubble. "You can get rid of this thing now."_

_She banished her shield and followed him back to the books, whishing the entire time that she could permanently conjure one between the two of them. They both went back to their reading as if nothing had ever happened._

"You can wait until after I'm done my breakfast," she said, indicating the eggs she was cooking. Not giving him a chance to object, Hermione ripped her arm out of his grasp and went back to cooking. It wasn't like his problem was going to get any worse while he wasn't corporeal after all, he could wait.

Apparently, Malfoy decided it wasn't worth the fight because he left her alone while she ate her meal. He was probably hungry as well, but she had decided to play an evil game and make him get over his pride and ask her for food. Gone were the days when Hermione would just offer him the things he needed like she would have with a normal guest. If she was feeling particularly sadistic, she would make him say please.

Hermione was once again in the loo in her bubble when Malfoy poked his head inside and surprised her with an announcement. "I need to have a shower."

Her arms came up and crossed over her chest as she tried to work out how they would manage that; whatever they did, it would be awkward. She seemed to be in a constant state of awkwardness since his appearance, and contrary to what she'd assumed, that's not something a person can just get used to.

Malfoy seemed to take her stance as an invitation to elaborate. "If I'm going to go into work, I need to be clean and well dressed." His sliver eyes ran over the wrinkled and dirty casual robes he'd been wearing for the 'dog show' with Goyle. "I'm going to need something more formal to wear as well. I think we're going to have to make a stop at the Manor."

Her face paled and she suddenly felt cold. Malfoy Manor was not somewhere Hermione had ever thought she would need to visit again – the death of the older generation of Malfoys didn't do much to reduce the terror under which their house still firmly held her. It wasn't the people who had lived there so much as it was the place itself. Her reaction was similar to the victim of a horrible car accident that was hesitant to drive down the road where they had crashed.

She waved her wand, vanquishing the barrier as a distraction from the grey eyes that were probably observing her reaction carefully and guessing too much about her mindset – the foul git could be observant when he wanted to be. It was skill honed through a lifetime with Slytherins.

"It's not dangerous at the Manor anymore, Granger. The only people who live there are me and a small army of House Elves."

It was almost like he was _trying_ to make her mad. "You Purebloods all think you have the right to make another living creature spend its entire life waiting on you hand and foot without any form of compensat- were you _trying_ to make me angry enough to go to the Manor and try to free your elves?"

He smirked at her and shrugged. "It almost worked. We need to go either way, and manipulating you seemed the easier route."

"That's so... so-"

"Slytherin?" He offered as his bloody smirk widened.

Talking to him was like banging her head repeatedly on a wall – a sharp stone wall; something that would do a lot of damage to her poor head. If he was going to be staying long, she was going to have to stock up on pain relieving potions; the headaches alone could be the death of her.

Glaring all the while, she perched on the edge of her bathtub and looked pointedly at the git before casting the spell around herself once again. Towels were prominently displayed in a rack beside the tub, so she grabbed one and placed it on her lap; it would be easier to just hand Malfoy the towel as he got out of the shower than have him wandering naked on the slippery tiles trying to find them. Though his death would solve her problems, she would rather not have a naked Malfoy ghost following her around making snide comments about her blood and choice of decor.

It wasn't long before a frustrated and dripping head appeared through her shield. "Granger, I can't wash properly holding your wrist, I can't even put my arm all the way up with you sitting there holding it down. Give me your hand."

Immediately suspicious, Hermione glared at him. "Why?"

"Just do it." He ordered.

Apparently, the prat had forgotten that he was in no position to make demands. Hermione was just about to tell him to sod off and find someone else to help him with he grabbed her wrist in a grip she was unable to escape and pressed her hand against what felt like his knee. He held it there until her reflexive reaction of ripping her hand away had passed and she'd moved on to the frozen, in shock stage.

"Move your hand any higher and I'll whack you with your own conditioner bottle -which I can only assume is for decoration, since you obviously never use it," he threatened, pulling his head out of the bubble and going back to his shower before she could retort.

"I knew this was going to be a long day," she groaned, knowing he wouldn't be able to hear her distress through the shield.

Without waiting for her to hand it over, Malfoy snatched the towel off of her lap. She assumed he wrapped it around his waist, but he didn't stick his head in the bubble to tell her she could remove it. This left Hermione in the frustrating position of hiding in the bubble until he told her it was safe to come out or risk seeing no doubt disturbing things that would never be unseen.

He pulled her to her feet and held onto her wrist tighter right before she felt the tug of Apparation.

Not meant to withstand the kind of pressure that comes with a rapid location change, her poor shield dissolved before they'd even reached their destination. They appeared in a lavish bedroom decorated in sliver and green.

"Pansy!" Malfoy yelled.

"I can't _believe_ you'd just pull me with you like that! Like I'm some kind of- Parkinson's here?" Hermione's scolding skills were a little off, her brain was still a touch addled from the surprise Apparation she'd been subjected to.

His silver eyes rolled towards the ceiling as if asking for patience before he answered. "No, Parkinson's not here. She was, however, here when we named my personal House Elf as children. When we were young she was quite a bit bigger than me, and very persuasive.

"As for dragging you here: I need clothes and you obviously weren't going to be reasonable about it." He finished.

"I was _tortured_ here by your crazy aunt!" She shrilled at him.

"So was I!" He yelled right back at her. "And by Voldemort and my _father_. I'm supposed to be the coward, yet you're the one on the verge of a panic attack." His voice had quieted down after the initial exclamation, taking on a dark tone.

A small pop interrupted whatever her response may have been, which was probably best for both parties. "How may Pansy be helping Master?" The elf asked.

Malfoy ordered her to pack him a bag with all the essentials as well as enough clothes to last him a few days and for work robes to be laid out on the bed. The two waited in awkward silence as the little elf jumped to do what she was asked.

It was then that Hermione noticed Malfoy was _still_ wearing a towel; would it really have taken so much effort for him to put his pants on before he dragged her here? The man was an exhibitionist... Her traitorous eyes couldn't help wander over him while he wasn't looking. Just because he had reason to be proud didn't mean he had to flaunt himself!

The elf set the packed bag down in front of them and left the room before Hermione could even think to have some words with the poor, enslaved creature.

Malfoy pulled her over to the bed, where his clothes were waiting. "Put your hand on my shoulder unless you want to see me naked." He said, watching with amusement when the brunette blushed and immediately did what he'd ordered.

He pulled his pants up under the towel before letting it drop, actually chuckling when Hermione blushed even more. "Granger, you're acting like a preteen girl who's never seen a man before. I highly doubt you're as innocent as you're pretending."

Hermione looked away. "You have no business thinking about how innocent I may or may not be, even if it's just speculation. Now shut up and put some clothes on." The prat was easier to deal with when he had a shirt on... It took a bit of manoeuvring, but he managed to get the shirt and robe on without too much more difficulty.

"I'm sure the wall is fascinating Granger, but I'm dressed now, it's safe to look." He was getting way too much amusement out of her discomfort.

If she didn't suspect that she'd only humiliate herself, Hermione would see how embarrassed he was when she was walking around without a shirt. "Let's get this office thing over with," she grumbled.

Malfoy didn't tease her anymore, sensing she was close to her breaking point. On the bright side, her discomfort in his presence completely distracted her from her discomfort in his house. Once again Malfoy Apparated her away without any real warning, but she was ready for it this time, having learned that she needed to be prepared for something surprising when he wasn't insulting her.

"For someone who spends so much time criticizing the decorating skills of others, you seem awfully fond of the Slytherin colour scheme." She looked around at the office in which they'd appeared; it looked like somewhere Salazar himself would work.

"Just focus on being an airhead Granger." He waved his wand and changed her hair to a bleached blonde colour, then shrunk her clothes about four sizes until it was hard for her to breathe, and would be impossible to bend over should she drop something. "Now hang off my arm and only answer direct questions. A high pitched giggle would probably help matters."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "So you basically want me to channel Lavender Brown."

"No, she's still too... Gryffindor. Think of everything about yourself that you take pride in, forget it, and then do the opposite." He muttered, opening the door of the office and leading them out into the hall. What helpful advice. Was he insulting all the girls he dated and giving her a backwards compliment? She wasn't going to waste the brainpower trying to understand his twisted mind.

"You have horrendous taste in women," she responded close to his ear. To an outside observer, it would appear that she was whispering flirtatiously. The action disturbed them both greatly.

A short, nervous looking man came out of a door down the hallway and froze when he saw Malfoy.

"Mr. Malfoy!" He gasped. "I thought you were missing!" His shifty little eyes made even Hermione suspect that he was up to something, and she didn't even have a Slytherin's natural distrust of people.

"You should know not to believe the press says." Malfoy sneered in what Hermione assumed was his most condescending tone. The mousy man got twitchier and looked even more nervous. She was pretty sure he was almost ready to start gnawing holes in the walls so he'd have somewhere to hide.

Hermione chose that moment to let out a high pitched giggle in an attempt to ease the withering stare Malfoy was giving the poor man. Her laugh only seemed to put Malfoy even more on edge and make the little man twitchier. Well, she tried.

Malfoy gave her a look out of the corner of his eye that she interpreted as 'tone it down a bit' before turning his full attention back to the man. "Just get me the paperwork I need to take a prolonged vacation." Malfoy snapped, causing the man to start and rapidly retreat.

"Merlin Granger, I wanted them to think you were an airhead, not a mental patient!" He groaned quietly when the man had scurried out of earshot.

"I'm not the best actress in case you haven't noticed!" She hissed defensively.

The man came back and handed Malfoy a single paper. The blonde promptly snatched the form, scanned the writing, and then pulled a self-inking quill out of his pocket to sign it with a flourish.

"Thank you Mr...?" Hermione started with a vapid smile.

"Smith." He told her with a smile, seeming to relax a little since Malfoy was distracted and Hermione had shown him a little kindness.

Malfoy mumbled something that sounded like 'he doesn't even _look_ like a Smith'. He handed the paper back to Mr. Smith and turned back to his office. "We'll be going now."

He dragged Hermione back to his office so they could apparate away before his employees started expecting _kindness_.

"Malfoy, whatever you did to my clothes and hair, _un_do it before I pass out from air restriction." Hermione snapped as soon as the door clicked shut behind them.

"I don't know... at least now I have something to look at while you nag me," he drawled, looking her up and down. Hermione crossed her arms over her chest when he lingered on them. Her motion only served to squish the hand he had around her wrist against the offending body-part, which in turn cause him to smirk that bloody smirk of his. That was the final straw for her, she'd had a stressful day and he just kept pushing and _pushing_.

There was no doubt in her mind that she'd be able to change her clothes and hair back without much difficulty, but without knowing what spell the prat had used, there was a chance that her clothes would disintegrate and leave her naked. She whipped out her wand and stunned him.

When he fell to the ground, she carefully took off his robe, leaving him in his pants and button up shirt. With an evil grin, she wrapped the robe around herself and then released him from the spell. Doing her best not to notice that the stolen garment smelt nice – it smelt like _him_, she faced the irate blonde as he jumped to his feet.

"What the _hell_ Granger?" Malfoy growled as soon as he was free to move.

"I wasn't going to just stand by and let you ogle me like a piece of meat!" Her voice was shrill by the word 'meat' and Malfoy winced a little from the volume and pitch of the noise.

"You could have just changed when we got back to your flat!"

"We're not going back to my flat." Hermione said, directing a smile at him that left a distinctly uneasy expression on his face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A/N: Okay, so I may or may not have said that this story is complete at 12 chapters and just needs to be edited... But it wasn't finished right, so I've spent the last few days (when I really should have been working on one of those essays that are circling me like vultures) to fix the ending. So now there's 16 chapters instead of 12... Hooray! **

**Thanks to GreekGirl for betaing and thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**~Frosty**

Without any warning, she Apparated them both to the Apparation point nearest to where they were supposed to meet Chris. They were behind schedule already. There was no time for the fight with Malfoy, it would take forever to get him to change her clothes and hair back to normal.

"I went to do your task and dressed like a trollop, and I'm _still_ blonde, now it's your turn. Chris is waiting for me to help him recapture the 'monster'. I'm going to convince him it means no harm and just wants to live peacefully. Maybe he'll even decide to do something normal again."

"So we're counting on your Muggle cousin sharing your Gryffindor bleeding heart?"

"No, just _you_ are counting Chris having a bleeding heart. It's actually more convenient for me if you somehow perish dramatically," she said with another evil smile as she dragged him towards the house inside which he'd been held captive in the past. If he hadn't been such a prat to her while she'd been terrified in the Manor, maybe she would have felt some sympathy for him, but he had, so she didn't. Though he _had_ distracted her from her fear by pissing her off... but that could have just been his nature and not some misguided attempt to soothe her nerves.

The door practically screeched as she opened it – who needs a burglar alarm when the doors scream?

Malfoy's grip slipped off her wrist as Chris came bolting around a corner looking over-excited as usual. He was practically bouncing when he came into view and it only worsened when he noticed his cousin.

"Hermione, I'm so glad you're here! I think I've made a breakthrough in- what are you wearing?" He asked with large eyes; he'd never seen his cousin in something so _revealing_. It was a shock to even realize that she was _female_.

It was understandable that Chris was a little confused about her outfit. The robe she'd stolen from Malfoy was several sizes too big and opened at the front to show off her normal clothes that were several sizes too small.

"And what happened to your hair?"

And she was still blonde, like MALFOY! Her day would really have to work to get worse than it already was, but she had a feeling it was willing to put in that bit of extra effort to ensure she'd be miserable for a long time. "Don't. Ask."

She pulled the robe tighter around herself and fastened the clasp to keep them closed. "Let's just get this monster catching thing over with; the day's only half over and I'm exhausted."

The long, white lab coat he handed her was obviously one of his spare ones, so it fit nicely over the robe she had stolen from Malfoy. This was convenient because there was no way she was showing off the outfit she was sporting until she was alone in her room where no one would see it. Ever. It was bad enough that of the two people who witnessed it, one of them was Malfoy, she wasn't about to prance around in it. She planned on burning the clothes when she got home, because even if she managed to restore them to their original size, they were now tainted.

"What do we need to do?" She asked; the quicker they trapped Malfoy, the quicker she'd be able to get back to her flat and have a nice, long bath. A bath with all the lights on, which wasn't usually as relaxing, but under her current circumstances, knowing that there was no possible way that Malfoy was watching her while she was naked was the most comforting thought of all. Wait, the most comforting thought of all was leaving Malfoy with her over-eager cousin to experiment on, but there were probably laws against that.

"Nothing."

Hermione tilted her head to the side. "We don't do anything?"

"Nope." He said smugly. "I've set up elaborate motion sensors to trigger the lights as soon as anything even remotely shadow-like comes anywhere near it."

Just as he was finishing his explanation, the lights in the other room flared brightly to life. Chris immediately jumped into action, running to a laptop sitting on a table of instruments attached to wires. On the screen there was a night vision picture of the darkness inside the tent.

"You caught him!" Hermione announced, faking enthusiasm. "Now what?"

"Now we observe it until we can determine if it's dangerous."

"It's a shadow, how can it be dangerous?" Malfoy was completely harmless when he was in his shadow form, fully incorporeal and innocuous. It was when the prat was solid that the problems started. While she would normally commend her cousin's caution, Hermione was impatient to get away from the creaky old house and dusty air. A little encouragement was in order.

"Maybe we should go in there and try to make contact with it," She suggested.

Chris looked worried. "Hermione, there's a good chance it's dangerous, I don't want you to get hurt because we didn't take proper precautions."

Hermione waved him off and moved into the over-bright room. "I'm just going to prove this shadow's not dangerous. You, _watch_ from the _camera_ you have _inside_ the tent." The words were more for Malfoy's sake so he'd know not to touch her once she got close to him. She only hoped he understood that Muggle cameras could record video and sound instead of just the images the magical ones captured.

The inside of the tent was just as dark and uncomfortable as Hermione remembered it.

"Hello mysterious shadow being, I mean you no harm," she made sure to enunciate every syllable carefully. Sure, she looked like a moron and Malfoy would probably mock her ruthlessly later, but it was more for Chris than anyone else.

"Shadow being, wave if you understand me." Malfoy's shadow stayed stubbornly still.

Brown eyes narrowed in irritation as she glared. "Wave if you don't want me to leave you here," she hissed, careful to lean away from the microphone on the camera. Her glare changed into a smug smile when the shadow started waving. Judging his body language, Malfoy was shooting her a fierce glare at her, and probably muttering curses that she couldn't hear.

"Chris, look! It understands me and it's being _cooperative_. Come perform your tests on it." A pointed look in Malfoy's direction told him that if he wasn't cooperative, there would be consequences. She was dressed as a trollop and blond, Hermione was just dying to think up some consequences and he knew that.

Chris seemed to take her word that the 'shadow being' wasn't dangerous and came rushing in with a whole array of instruments.

"I'm just going to run a few tests," her cousin announced as he dragged the precarious pile of instruments into the small tent, further crowding them. From the way he was fidgeting, Hermione could tell that Malfoy was getting a little nervous.

She was starting to think Malfoy's anxiety was completely unwarranted until Chris took out a simple flashlight. At first, Malfoy just sat there while the light got closer and closer to him, but the second it moved into the same space as the shadow, he darted around the tent and hid behind Hermione.

"I think that may be hurting it," Hermione said quietly, but Chris wasn't listening. He was completely focused on finding out what would happen if the light shone directly onto the shadow.

The second time the light came into contact with him, Malfoy got fed up. He grabbed Hermione's wrist so he was solid, yanked the flashlight out of Chris' hand and tossed it out of the tent. The two Grangers sat in shocked silence as the flashlight clattered against the far wall.

"I was willing to play your little games because I gave my word and you completed your half of the bargain, but my agreement didn't include pain. I'm finished Granger, we're going back." Malfoy said with a cold glare in Chris' direction.

"H-H-Hermione?" Her poor cousin stuttered. His confusion was understandable; the shadow monster had just morphed into his cousin's 'friend from school'.

"Listen Chris, I know this is confusing, but-"

"Obliviate." Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Malfoy's wand pointed at her cousin. Immediately, a vacant expression spread across the man's face.

"Malfoy!" She screeched in horror. "You just used magic on a Muggle! You can't just-" He stopped her tirade by covering her mouth with the hand that wasn't holding her wrist.

"Didn't you say something about him having a way to watch us inside the tent from outside?"

She nodded the best she could around his restraining hand. This was going against everything she believed, but Chris would take a while to sort the memories he'd been left with, she may as well take advantage of the easy fix Malfoy had provided – not that she approved of his methods.

Irritably, Hermione ripped his hand off of her mouth. "We need to get to his computer."

Malfoy followed obediently now that she was doing what he wanted. It figured that the only time he was ever anything but unbearable was when he was getting his way.

She rushed over to the computer and started frantically clicking on things. Over the years, Hermione had been preoccupied with her life at Hogwarts, so she didn't know as much about computers as the average Muggle her age would, but she did know how to delete things – in fact, she often did it by accident.

Heat at behind her and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing on end made her aware that Malfoy was standing too close and looking over her shoulder impatiently. "Aren't you done yet? The Muggle's going to come out of that trance soon," he complained.

"I'm just making sure he won't be able to use this to see what just happened in that tent."

"Granger, I don't even know what that _is_, but I know you're doing it wrong." Malfoy pulled out his wand and blasted the computer to pieces. "Will he be able to use it now?"

Glaring, Hermione slowly shook her head. "No, and you're going to pay him back for that, computers are expensive."

"Fine, let's just get out of here."

* * *

Days later, Hermione was starting to get worried. Her vacation would be finished soon and she'd have to go back to work. She wasn't sure how that was going to sit with Malfoy, as he seemed to want to spend as much time as possible corporeal even though it meant he had to be constantly touching her.

Despite how annoying he was, it was starting to feel strange to be without his large hand closed firmly around her wrist, or resting on her stomach at night. She never would have believed it while she was in school, but once she'd adjusted to his overall infuriating attitude, Malfoy wasn't so bad – not that she'd ever tell him that.

Hermione was in a deep sleep when the Floo alarm went off, it didn't even make her stir. Had she been more awake, she would have heard Malfoy grumble something unintelligible and pulled her closer – he always claimed his blood pressure dropped as he slept and he needed the warmth, but she was sure that he just refused to admit he was a snuggler when he slept.

He stirred again when someone cleared their throat in the doorway, but Hermione was still dead to the world. Draco knew that throat clearing; it had disturbed him from any number of morally questionable activities while he'd been in school.

"Go 'way Sev'rus, sleeping," Draco muttered. Had he been fully conscious, he may have wondered what was morally questionable about his actions _this_ time.

"I rushed the potion because I was concerned that you and Miss Granger would murder each other, but it seems my concern was misplaced." Snape murmured without near as much of the venom with which his words were usually tinged.

Draco didn't answer, he just tugged one of the million pillows that so entranced Granger oout of the pile and pulled it over his head.

He groaned when the pillow was ripped away and replaced with Snape's irritated face. "Draco, just drink this potion and then you can sleep on your own – not that you seem to be having many issues with your current situation." The Potion's Master handed over a small vial of liquid.

Too tired to defend his actions or fight against Snape's orders, Draco gulped down the potion and rolled away from Severus, content to go back to sleep.

Having known the both of them while they were in Hogwarts, Snape was surprised that Granger hadn't yet murdered Draco. This wouldn't be the first time that he'd completely underestimated the extent of Gryffindor kindness – possibly because he'd experienced more than his share of Gryffindor cruelty. He took one last look at the comfortably sleeping duo before scribbling a hasty note and leaving it in the kitchen where they'd be sure to find it.

Satisfied that there was no more he could do for them at the moment, Snape stepped back into the fireplace and Flooed home.

* * *

Hermione awoke feeling surprisingly well rested. Malfoy was much too close –as usual- but she was starting to get used to that. Just like almost every morning of her vacation, she wiggled out from under Malfoy's arm and headed to the shower. Had she been paying attention, she would have noticed that Malfoy didn't disappear when their skin was no longer in contact; instead, he grabbed a pillow and hugged it to his chest in place of her form in his sleep.

When she came out of the shower and noticed that someone was in her bed, she screamed.

Malfoy immediately sat up, wand ready and frantically looking around the room. "What?" He demanded, staring suspiciously at pretty much everything as he tried to determine what had triggered her screech.

"I'm not touching you," she said in a small voice. Most of her brainpower was occupied with trying to find an explanation for his solid state; otherwise she would have said something that didn't make her sound like a complete idiot.

"Snape visited last night while you were dead-to-the-world, and he gave me the potion." Malfoy looked surprised that it had happened; he was probably just remembering the other man's visit.

Well, that explained everything. "Get out of my room so I can get dressed, you can have the guest room next door."

Obediently, Malfoy climbed out of her bed and trudged towards the kitchen, where he found something interesting on the table.

_Since neither of you deemed it necessary to wake up enough to have a coherent conversation, I'm forced to leave a note - you know how I hate leaving notes Draco. The potion you've taken will not wear off, so as long as Draco stays within twenty metres of Granger, he will stay solid. I can begin the tests on Draco whenever the two of you have some spare time – bring a book, Miss Granger, I will not tolerate your incessant questions._

Draco snickered at the note and handed it to Granger when she walked into the room. She scowled at it as she reached the last line in the text; it seemed that Snape knew them pretty well.

Hermione sighed dramatically, letting the paper fall back to the table. "Now you're going to be around _all the time_. I was starting to like being able to make you disappear when I yanked my hand away." There was no sense crying over spilt milk, it seemed that she was going to be unable to have any freedom from Malfoy.

"I'm glad I don't have to sleep with you anymore, I keep having nightmares about your hair getting in my mouth and _suffocating_ me."

"That wouldn't be an issue if you didn't hold me so _close_."

Unused to the luxury of personal space while conversing, the two were standing right next to each other. When Hermione said the word 'close', they both seemed to realize that they were too crowded for a conversation between enemies. They froze for a moment, just staring at each other before Malfoy turned away and left the room, slamming the door to the loo a moment later. The sound of the shower running reached her ears as she stomped around the kitchen. It seemed that the topic of his sleeping habits was off limits. Maybe he was sensitive to the fact that he'd insult her all day long but pull her close at night.

She shuddered. The only way she'd been dealing with the mental trauma of his constant, too close presence at night was thinking of him as a hot water-bottle. A large hot water-bottle that made sure she didn't move too far away – for someone who complained of being cold while he slept he generated a lot of heat.

Doing her best to suppress another shudder, Hermione set about preparing something to eat. Malfoy was actually right; she did skip too many meals, it just hadn't been very noticeable when she was living alone. The stress from working long hours had completely obliterated her appetite for everything but lollipops. Now that Malfoy was there with his strange requirement of three meals a day, she was looking less... bony. Healthier.

She went to the fridge to gather all the ingredients for a nice, mushroom omelette. Humming, Hermione flitted about the kitchen as she once again attempted the cooking thing. Malfoy seemed to have issues with eating fast food all the time, and she'd eventually tired of his complaints and bought normal groceries.

Her perfect record of spoiling every meal she attempted to prepare went on untarnished when the roar of the Floo distracted her while she was chopping and made her slice her finger. The cut was deep and there was soon blood all over the poor mushrooms.

It was then that she realized that the Floo meant there was a visitor! Rushing into the living room and holding her bleeding hand, Hermione saw Ginny standing in front of the fireplace looking furious and sad. The brunette cast and anxious look at the loo where she could still hear the shower running; this wasn't going to end well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: Hello readers! Thanks to all of you who review, favourite, etcetera. You guys are awesome!**

**As always, a huge thank you to GreekGirl for betaing!**

**~Frosty**

"Hermione, I need to stay here for a few days before I do what Voldemort couldn't and _murder_ Harry!" Ginny said in a rush, throwing her bag on the couch.

The brunette arched an eyebrow. "Did you two have an argument?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Can I have the guestroom?"

Hermione paled. "Um, there's kind of someone staying in the guest room. You're more than welcome to use my bed though, I can take the couch." She offered. There was no way that Malfoy would just give up what had recently come to be 'his' room without a fight, and Hermione just didn't have the energy for a confrontation.

Malfoy, as if sensing that it was the absolute worst moment to make an appearance, strutted out of the loo in nothing but a towel, slung low on his hips. He wasn't paying any attention to the mortified brunette or her overwhelmingly confused friend; he was completely focused on the hand-mirror he was using to see his hair from all angles. Still without even a glance away from the mirror, he walked into the guest room and shut the door behind him.

Ginny turned back to Hermione. "Just to clarify: I just saw Malfoy walk past nearly naked, right?"

"It's not what you think," Hermione said in a small voice.

Crossing her arms and levelling the brunette with a hard glare, Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Enlighten me."

Malfoy once again displayed his horrendous timing when he called from his room. "Granger, are you trying to cook again? We've been through this; you're not allowed to attempt that without supervision. You're going to kill us all."

Ginny's eyebrow rose even further.

The butter! She'd been melting butter in a frying pan and now it was burning. Hermione rushed into the kitchen to take the pan off the burner and turned off the stove, cursing her cooking ability the whole way.

When she went back into the living room, Ginny was staring at the door to the guestroom with a venomous look. "Do I get an explanation _now_?"

The truth was probably the best option... But maybe a slightly edited version? She almost wished that Malfoy would come out of his room and explain this for her, he was better at lying and editing the truth to suit his needs - better than she could herself.

She shook her head violently at the thought; Malfoy was liable to make the situation a hundred times worse – for fun. He'd probably find ruining her friendships hilarious. Who knew what kind of games the Slytherins got into in their spare time?

"Malfoy's under a curse. If he goes further than twenty metres from me, he turns into a shadow." There, that was enough information, without sharing too much; Ginny didn't need to know the particulars of the sleeping arrangements prior to Snape's potion.

"So? Let him stay a shadow! Everyone's life would be better without that ferret!"

"Some might say the same for you Weaslette," Malfoy drawled, leaning in the doorway of the bedroom – fully dressed. "There are more than enough obnoxious redheads in your family- Granger, are you aware you're dripping blood all over the carpet?" He actually stopped an insult to point out her injury; if she didn't know better, she'd think he was almost worried.

Hermione jumped a little and looked down at her hand; so she was. She absently took out her wand and healed her cut before cleaning the carpet.

Malfoy rolled his eyes and walked past them, muttering about 'Gryffindors'. "What the hell did you _do_ in here Granger?" He called from the kitchen. "It looks like you've _murdered_ someone."

"And yet you're still alive," she muttered quietly.

Besides her comment to herself, the two Gryffindors ignored him and the annoyed muttering that followed his interruption. The clanking that followed soon after made it obvious that he was cooking something for himself and would be distracted for at least a few minutes.

Ginny seemed to be recovering from the shock and confusion of seeing Malfoy in her friend's flat. She sat down heavily on the sofa. "It figures Malfoy would be here. The only thing I needed was a quiet place to stay while I got over my anger. The universe hates me!"

Concerned, Hermione joined her distraught friend on the sofa. "What happened with you and Harry?" She asked quietly.

"I'll tell you about it when I'm not so angry."

"Do you want something to eat?" Hermione offered, sensing Ginny was eager for a new subject, or something to distract her.

They both looked towards the kitchen when there was a bang and some muffled swearing. "Can we go out for breakfast?" The redhead asked.

"That's probably best."

* * *

"You know Hermione, you're looking healthier than I've seen you since before the war. You never really gained back the weight you lost while you were on the run like Harry and Ron did and you're not pale," Ginny commented, spearing a bit of pancake and nibbling on it, "there's actually color in your cheeks."

Hermione swallowed the bite of mushroom omelette she'd been chewing. "Vacation time's been good for me."

"Hmm," Ginny hummed around another bite of pancake.

Hermione sighed. She knew that tone. "What?"

"It's just... I wouldn't have thought time with Malfoy would _reduce_ your stress levels."

Hermione put another bite in her mouth so she had time to ponder how to phrase her answer; if she wasn't careful, Ginny might think she _enjoyed _all that time she spent with the blond ferret. "I don't think he reduces my stress, but I think yelling at him _relieves_ some of my stress."

She didn't want to worry Ginny with how many meals she'd been missing before Malfoy had been there to whine that it was time to eat. The redhead would tell Harry and her mother and before she could object, Hermione would have people showing up with meals for her.

"Well, living with your enemy has done wonders for you. Maybe I should try it; living with my boyfriend doesn't seem to be working for me."

"What happened?" Hermione asked with concern; Harry and Ginny were so happy together, something big must have happened for Ginny to actually leave Grimmauld Place so abruptly.

The redhead let out a weary sigh. "I wanted to transfer out of my Healer's training and join the Auror recruits."

Ginny had, at Molly's suggestion, joined training to become a Healer almost immediately after she graduated from Hogwarts. She'd seemed happy, so Hermione hadn't commented, even though she knew the fiery redhead would never be completely content outside of the action, just like during the war.

"Harry didn't approve of the career choice?" Hermione asked, already knowing the answer. Since –and even during- the war, Harry had taken it upon himself to make sure Ginny was never in danger, and this career change would put her right back into the line of fire, which had to be putting Harry's overprotective side into overdrive.

"That's an understatement. I applied for the position without telling him because I didn't want to have the fight if I wasn't even going to be accepted into the training program. The problem is; the Auror Department asked Harry if he could take me the acceptance letter, they thought the good news would be more exciting coming from him..."

Hermione winced in sympathy; _that_ couldn't have been a pleasant conversation. "Are you going to join the program anyway?"

Jaw tensed and determined, Ginny nodded her head sharply. "It's always been my dream to become an Auror, but mum always said as the only girl out of all those boys I had to be safe. Everyone has always done nothing but coddle me and it drives me insane. I'm not a little girl anymore and I want to be an Auror!" Ginny's voice was getting loud by the end of her little rant, but they were the only ones in the diner other than a bored-looking waitress behind the counter, so Hermione let her get it out – it was best for her to do it while Malfoy wasn't there.

"Then you should be an Auror." Hermione said firmly. "But Harry's going to murder us both if he finds out I let you stay in my flat while Malfoy's there..." Oh the dilemma. Risk Harry's wrath or force Ginny to find somewhere else to stay... Maybe Malfoy would have some tips on facing Harry's wrath; the blonde had certainly been on the receiving end of it multiple times in the past.

"Speaking of Malfoy, should we be worried that he's going to burn down your entire building?" Ginny asked.

"No, he should have turned into a shadow when I left. He's probably lurking in the corner, muttering curses no one can hear." Hermione laughed a little, picturing him occupying what she'd come to refer to as his 'pouting corner'. He insisted it was a 'plotting corner', but she was pretty sure the prat was just trying to save face.

They paid their bill and made their way back to Hermione's flat.

Hermione had been right; when they landed in the living room, Malfoy solidified in the corner where she'd expected.

"You got an owl while you were gone," he told them as soon as he could. Not being able to snoop and open the mail had probably been driving him mental since he'd seen the owl arrive. Hermione thought about letting him wonder who it was from for a while longer, but not knowing would drive _her_ mental as well.

The handwriting on the envelope was Harry's and it was addressed to Ginny. Hermione watched as her friend read the letter, spots of colour developed on Ginny's cheeks.

"What's it say?"

"It says he's sorry he got so angry, but it was only concern for my safety that made him so upset. He wants me to come home so he can 'talk some sense into me'." Ginny shredded the letter and watched the pieces fall to the floor.

"What's wrong Weaslette? Finally realize Potter and his moronic sidekick are a little _too_ close?"

Hermione had to physically restrain Ginny from attacking the blonde. "Ginny, you need to calm down. Take deep relaxing breaths, have a nice, soothing bubble bath."

Unwillingly, Ginny trudged towards the loo, glancing back over her shoulder at Hermione to make sure she was serious about making her take a bath. The bubbles that Hermione stocked beside the tub were laced with a strong calming draught, so she knew that the bath would do her friend a lot of good.

As soon as Ginny had closed the door and they heard the water running, Hermione turned to Malfoy. "Do you have to provoke her like that? She's having a hard day."

"She's a Gryffindor in distress; it's practically my _job_ to make her day worse."

A look of disgust crawled onto Hermione's face. "Excuse me for thinking you were human somewhere under your nasty Slytherin exterior."

"Granger, you're kidding yourself if you think I have a squishy, humanitarian filling under this gorgeous physique. And we both know there's nothing nasty about my exterior."

Her brown eyes rolled to the ceiling at his cocky attitude. "There is; it hides a foul, twisted personality."

"Just like your disastrous hair hides a decidedly devious and evil mind, if it weren't too much of a compliment for a Mudblood, I might even go as far as to say that you have the brain of a Slytherin."

"Slytherin isn't a compliment, it's an insult! Despite what you feel is a lesser blood status, I've managed to beat you in all of our classes for our entire school career. That must have really bothered you, didn't it Malfoy? Second to a Mudblood?"

His eyes narrowed to twin slits of silver. "The blatant favouritism of almost the entire Hogwarts staff is what bothered me. I was discriminated against by almost all the teachers because I was a Slytherin and a Malfoy. On my first day of classes, they'd already decided that I was no good."

"You? _You_ were discriminated against since day one? You're not allowed to complain about discrimination while you're constantly telling me I'm inferior for something I have no control of!" She could tell their conversation was rapidly getting out of hand, but it felt just felt so _good_ to be yelling.

"You're different. My discrimination against you is-"

"Why is discrimination against me any different that the favouritism you're complaining about?" Her hand moved to where her wand was hidden in her pocket and grasped the familiar stick tightly, she was angry enough to hex the prat if he said something offensive one more time.

"The _difference_, Mudblood, is that I am from one of the oldest Pureblood families-"

"Wrong answer," she snapped, whipping out her wand and firing a hex at him.

After a very startled look, Malfoy whipped out his own wand and a small battle ensued. Hermione dove behind the sofa as he fired a nasty looking purple hex in her direction. She poked her head around the edge and fired a hex of her own invention back, grinning when it hit him in the chest and knocked him back into the wall. He slid to the floor in a gasping heap.

Taking advantage of his struggle to regain his breath, Hermione jumped out from behind the sofa and strode across the room, kicking his wand out of his reach and pressing the tip of her own into his neck.

"All that magical lineage isn't doing you much good now, is it?" She asked, amused by the foul look he was giving her.

"I wasn't willing to use all the Dark Curses my lineage ensures I was taught at a youn-"

A sizzling sound distracted her from whatever lies he was about to try and use to defend himself. The sofa looked like someone had thrown acid on it; what would that curse have done to her _skin_?

"You're telling me whatever's dissolving the sofa was a perfectly legal spell?"

He leaned to the side to see around her. "Okay, so I got a little carried away in the moment."

"You tried to _dissolve_ me! Do you even know the counter-curse?"

"Does it really matter? It didn't hit you, so there was no harm done – except possibly the damage you've done to my ribs when you threw me against the wall."

Hermione stood up, needing to put some distance between herself and the blonde before she forgot all about magic and tried to strangle him with her bare hands; he may be a Pureblood, but that didn't mean he couldn't die the Muggle way. She ignored him while he regained his breath, moving over to the sofa to see if the damage could be repaired. Every spell she knew that was even remotely related to the problem had no effect whatsoever.

"You're the one that gets to sleep on the floor." She'd been intending to sleep on the couch and give Ginny her own bed, while she let Malfoy keep the room where he'd been sleeping. But that was before he'd gone and _killed_ the sofa.

Ginny chose that moment to walk into the room. Her drooping eyelids immediately opened wide when she caught sight of the disaster they'd managed to create while she'd been bathing. "What _happened_ in here?"

"Small disagreement." Malfoy said dismissively, pulling himself to his feet with a small groan.

"_Small_? It looks like someone released an angry herd of deer in here." Her eyes moved to the numerous scorch marks, and then to the slowly dissolving sofa. "And they were on fire and armed with acid. I was only in there for twenty minutes..."

Hermione shot another glare at Malfoy before she started attempting to put her flat back in order. Malfoy moved towards the kitchen as if he intended to leave her to clean the entire mess the _both_ of them had made.

"Malfoy, don't you _dare_ walk away. You helped make this mess and you're going to help me clean it up."

He looked over his shoulder in disbelief. "I'm a Malfoy, I don't _clean_."

Hermione cast every locking charm she knew on the door into the kitchen. "You're not getting in there until the living room is back the way it was." She glanced over at the sofa. "Almost everything," she amended; there was no helping the unfortunate piece of furniture. A quick wave of her wand vanished the poor, deceased sofa before the spell finished eating it and moved on to eroding the floor.

Malfoy raised his blond brows at her before smirking. He blasted a hole in the wall beside the door and calmly walked into the kitchen.

Hermione screamed in frustration. There _had_ to be a way to commit murder without getting caught. Her conscience would probably become a problem eventually as well... She moved to follow after him, but Ginny laid a calming hand on her shoulder.

"If you follow him, you're only going to trash the kitchen too. You two are going to kill each other..." Ginny said with wonder and a huge helping of worry, having witnessed the entire exchange.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys are the best! **

**Also thanks to GreekGirl (also the best) for betaing!**

**I think this is my favourite chapter in the entire story (except, possibly, the final one), so I hope you like it!**

**~Frosty**

The bed shuffling had not gone as horribly as Hermione had predicted. Having learned her lesson, Hermione actually put wards in the walls as well as strong locking spells on the doors to keep Malfoy in the living room. The only soft place for the prat to sleep was the carpet in front of the fireplace.

The second Hermione exited her room in the morning, she instantly regretted not turning him into a ferret and getting him a _cage_ to sleep in. At least as a ferret, he'd be _cute_ while he was being evil.

"Malfoy! Why are you naked in the living room?" She demanded in a strained voice, averting her eyes. It was much too early to deal with him and his _distracting_ looks.

"I always sleep nude." The prat didn't even have a blanket to give him the _semblance_ of modesty. He stretched languidly, smirking when a dark blush stained her cheeks as she continued to avert her eyes.

"No you don't."

"Not while I was sleeping with you, I didn't want you taking advantage of me while I slept. Someone so deprived of male attention would be unable to resist a person as attractive as I am."

"I think I would have managed," she said dryly. "Just go put some clothes on before you scar Ginny as well; she's having a hard enough time as it is."

Malfoy rolled his eyes but listened to her suggestion, apparently content to only scar one of the females currently sharing the flat.

"I'm only doing this because the She-Weasel can probably get pregnant from even _looking_ too closely if she's anything like her mother and I'm not ready to have any illegitimate children running around, particularly with someone so disgraceful." He said before he went to find some clothes.

It was lucky he obeyed with so little argument; seconds after the door to the loo had shut behind him, Ginny came out of the guestroom looking sleep-ruffled and exhausted.

"Why do you look like you've seen a particularly disturbing ghost?" Ginny asked when she saw Hermione's expression.

Shuddering and then visibly composing herself, Hermione turned to her friend. "He's pale enough to be a ghost." A topic change was in order. "Did you not sleep well?"

Ginny sighed. "No, I was tossing and turning all night. I've been running over and over my argument with Harry, trying to think what I could've done differently, but I'm happy with what I said; it's the outcome that's depressing me..." She shook herself. "But I'm not going to be upset anymore because I've made my decision and Harry's just going to have to live with it or find some girl who _wants_ to be coddled. I'm going to try talking to him one more time, then it'll be in his hands."

Reaching towards her friend, Hermione patted her on the shoulder. "Good for you, Ginny. Don't worry. Harry will come around eventually; he wants _you_, not some helpless damsel."

"I was thinking last night... and I concluded it would be good if I could talk to him here, on neutral ground." Ginny peeked out from under her hair towards Hermione hopefully. "Maybe you could have him here, for dinner?"

The brunette hesitated; she was more than willing to support her friend and supply her with a place to stay, but she loved Ginny _and_ Harry, dragging her in the middle of their fight like Ginny was attempting to do wasn't fair.

Malfoy chose that moment to walk into the room; thankfully, he had acquired pants in the time he'd been out of sight. Unfortunately, he was shirtless; it would be so much easier to hate him if he wasn't so distracting when he was shirtless.

"Granger, I need my clothes washed." He announced, holding out a shirt to her. Hermione looked from the wad of fabric to his expectant expression. Did he honestly expect her to wait on him? If he'd been paying more attention, Draco would have noticed her eyes narrow dangerously and her fingers twitch towards her wand.

Before he could fully grasp what had happened, his shirt had been transfigured into a mass of waving sleeves. It wrapped several of the sleeves around the blond still holding it aloft and pulled tight until his arms were snugly bound to his side, preventing him from reaching his wand. From there, it quickly moved on to his legs, binding them together and pulling him to the floor with a thump.

"What the hell have you _done_ to my shirt, Granger?" Malfoy demanded in a growl. The effect was somewhat lessened, as he had to weave his head back and forth to prevent the sleeves from clamping over his mouth and silencing him.

Hermione grinned at him as he struggled. "I was _sure_ it was a starching spell," she told him with mock innocence. "It seems to have gone slightly awry."

"_Slightly?_"

If glares could kill, Hermione would be a smoking mound of ashes. But they didn't, so she got to watch Malfoy struggle against his own shirt as it dragged him over to a wall and scuttled along it, looking for a place to hide with its prey.

Ginny and Hermione watched as it tried to drag Malfoy into the guestroom, repeatedly banging his head off of the doorway before it finally managed to get him inside.

"It's not going to eat him, is it?" Ginny asked, sounding more hopeful than worried.

"No, only the synthetic blends eat people, and Malfoy's too elitist to let Muggle synthetic blends touch his precious pureblood skin." It was a shame really; the Muggle material actually attacking him would have amused and entertained her to no end.

Muffled shouts and banging came from the room, causing both women to glance in that direction.

Ginny turned back to Hermione as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "So could you have Harry here for dinner?"

After briefly contemplating transfiguring Ginny's shirt into another sleeve-monster to avoid answering the question, Hermione sighed; sometimes she hated being the responsible, reasonable, _sane_ one.

"Ginny, I'm not sure if my flat is the best place for a reconciliation at the moment..."

There was a louder bang and a flash from Malfoy's direction. He fled the room backwards, with his wand pointed wearily towards the shirt-monster. It reached arms out after him and pulled him back into the room, moving too fast for him to use his wand against it. More shuffling and muffled profanities ensued.

"Please Hermione? You've practically got Harry _conditioned_ to come to you when he needs someone to talk reason into him. I don't even have to be here, just talk to him?" The redhead widened her eyes and pouted at the older woman.

"Fine," Hermione sighed. "But I'm going to Grimmauld Place; Harry would kill all three of us if he found Malfoy here."

At the mention of Malfoy, they both looked towards the guestroom, where it had become oddly quiet. "I don't think he's going to ask you to do his laundry again." Ginny whispered.

"No, me either. I'm going to have to show him how to use the washing machine." She wasn't looking forward to that task.

"You know... Today's Harry's day off, so he's probably just brooding around the house."

Hermione rolled her eyes; someone needed to teach Ginny the meaning of subtlety. "Fine, I'll go," Hermione sighed. "But not because you keep making puppy-eyes at me, I'm going because it's probably best for my poor flat if I'm not here when Malfoy manages to get free from that shirt."

She grabbed a handful of Floo powder and, under Ginny's watchful eye, threw it into the fire, following after the powder immediately.

It was dark when she arrived at Grimmauld Place, but that didn't mean Harry wasn't there; he did his best brooding in the dark. "Harry?" She yelled.

A groan came from the direction of the kitchen. Hermione frowned and went in search of the source of the noise. Would it really kill him to shout 'I'm in the kitchen' instead of making a noise and leaving his poor visitors to guess where he was?

She'd been right in assuming the sound had come from the kitchen. Harry was sitting at the table with his head pillowed on his folded arms. "Harry, what in the world are you doing?" She demanded in her best nagging voice, with her hands on her hips.

"Ginny's missing, she's run away," he mumbled into his arms without even glancing up.

"She's not missing you git, she's at my flat. You know that, you sent her a letter." That got Harry to raise his head slightly and peek at her over his arm, chin resting on the table and glasses knocked askew.

"So you're here to yell at me for overreacting?"

Hermione sighed and pulled out the chair opposite her friend. "I know you love Ginny, but you can't keep her in a protective bubble all the time. You know as well as I do that she's just as capable of protecting herself as I am, and you were willing to bring me along while we got into all kinds of trouble."

"I know. It's just... I don't know what I'd do if I lost Ginny, she means the world to me."

It took a lot of effort to suppress the 'awww' that wanted to escape when she heard him talk like that. Apparently, it was time to give Harry a reality check. "You're going to lose her anyway if you keep trying to shelter her when she wants nothing more than to get out there and live her dream."

Harry groaned and let his head fall into his hands. "I know." He looked up hopefully. "Is there any chance she can be talked into a safer profession?" The hope in his voice was a desperate one, he didn't believe Ginny could be persuaded any more than Hermione did, but he had to try.

"No there isn't. And you know it Harry."

"I do," he sighed regretfully. "Can you do me a favour and watch out for her until she's ready to come back? I know it's not dangerous at your flat, but I worry for her..."

Hermione winced a little, thinking about Malfoy. 'Dangerous' was debateable, though Malfoy seemed to prefer ignoring Ginny save for the occasional insult towards her family or Harry.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," she said, to herself as much as Harry.

"Are you staying for breakfast?" Harry asked.

"No, I was having some... laundry trouble when I left and I think I should probably make sure it didn't get out of hand while I was here."

She said her goodbyes and hopped back into the fireplace, hoping that everything would still be whole when she got back.

Looking around her flat, Hermione wasn't comforted. Everything was whole, but it was quiet – too quiet. "Ginny?" She called, receiving no answer. "Malfoy?" Still no answer.

Malfoy's last known location was the guestroom, so that was probably the best place to start. She almost didn't want to peek around the doorway, but Ginny might need help, so Hermione forced herself to look.

Ginny was strapped to the bed, completely cocooned from nose to feet in shirt. Hermione used her wand to slash the fabric binding her friend. "What happened here?"

Ginny blushed a little and glanced at the ground. "I came in here to laugh at Malfoy, but it grabbed me and tied me to the bed."

"Where's Malfoy?"

The redhead nodded towards the closet as she rubbed circulation back into her wrists. Hermione hesitantly moved across the room and pointed her wand at the door before she even touched the handle.

When she whipped open the door, Malfoy was completely swaddled in the fabric and the shirt had somehow dragged him onto the shelf near the ceiling. Reluctantly, Hermione freed him the same way she'd freed Ginny. She stepped back as he fell to the floor.

Malfoy landed on his back with an 'oof' as the air was knocked from his lungs. His recovery time shocked Hermione; almost as soon as he landed on the ground he was up again and charging towards her.

The blonde grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the wall. "A closet! You made my own shirt drag me into a closet to _murder_ me!"

Hermione's wand clattered to the floor as she hit the wall. "It wasn't going to murder you; it only wanted to restrain you."

She didn't let it show that she was a little worried about what Malfoy intended to do to her in his anger. He _had _been a Death Eater during the war, who knew what he was capable of when he was pushed far enough – and is seemed that she'd pushed him quite far if the vein throbbing in his tense neck was any indication.

Ginny rushed from the room, limping a little because her legs were probably asleep. Malfoy didn't even glance over his shoulder at the movement; he was entirely focused on his captive.

He narrowed his eyes and moved until he was practically nose-to-nose with her. If eyes were really the window to the soul, then his was practically spitting sparks at her in his anger.

"You. Will. Not. Do. That. Ever. Again." He told her venomously, each word was accentuated by a loud thump against the wall.

Hermione winced at the tight grip he had on her upper arms more than from hitting the wall. She'd dealt with much worse than an angry Malfoy, so she forced herself to stay calm and stared right back at him. "I won't take orders from an oversized, pompous rodent, and you're barmy if you think using a school-yard bully move on me is going to make me cower and obey you." She told him coolly, proud of herself when her voice didn't waver.

Ginny came rushing back into the room and pressed her wand into the middle of the raging blonde's back. "Let her go Malfoy," she ordered.

Freezing, he obediently dropped Hermione's arms, holding his hands so that Ginny could see he wasn't touching her anymore. "Now get out of here," Ginny snapped.

With one last glare, Malfoy stepped away from Hermione and left the room in silence. Hermione took a huge, shuddering breath; despite her calm actions, a ball of terror had formed in her stomach, only relaxing when the imminent danger was avoided. Malfoy may have seemed harmless during the war when compared to the evils of Voldemort and his father, but he was far from safe – not that she'd ever tell _him_ that.

"Are you all right?" Ginny asked anxiously, watching as Hermione rubbed her arms and glared after the blond. "I didn't have my wand with me so I had to run and get the thing, I didn't think I'd be able to take him without a wand..." The redhead looked like she was fighting back tears.

Hermione wrapped her distressed friend in a tight hug, drawing comfort from her closeness while giving it. "Ginny, I've been through much worse. I'm fine." She dropped her arms and looked closely at the redhead; this wasn't like her. "Now what is it that's really bothering you?"

Ginny sniffed. "I froze. Malfoy flew at you and I just panicked and froze, but you were so calm the entire time! I'll never be an Auror. He was hurting you and I couldn't do anything, I just _sat_ there and watched!"

"Ginny, I've seen Harry freeze up when someone he cares about comes into the line of fire and he makes a wonderful Auror. Besides, it's just Malfoy, I'm fine." Probably. She'd _probably_ have been fine had Ginny not intervened; Malfoy would have most likely calmed down eventually after yelling and banging her against the wall a few more times.

"Really?" Ginny asked, looking like she could scarcely believe that Harry, the 'saviour of the Wizarding world' had also felt that moment of terror she had just experienced.

"Yes."

Malfoy was sitting in the kitchen glaring when they were finally ready to risk facing him again. Not wanting to be alone with the blonde in case he hadn't calmed down, the two of them left the room at the same time. Their caution was wasted; he refused to make eye-contact with either woman and didn't make any motions to even acknowledge that he'd seen them.

For the rest of the day, the flat was plunged in a heavy, awkward silence broken only by Ginny's attempts at conversation. The poor girl was so used to loud, boisterous brothers or the noisy dorms of Hogwarts that she was unprepared to deal with the oppressive silence.

Hermione was exhausted when she finally went to bed. Between her half-hearted answers to Ginny's constant questions and the death-glares that Malfoy shot her when he thought she wasn't looking, she was so weary that she forgot to cast the wards she'd used the night before to keep Malfoy from coming in and stealing her bed. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was deeply asleep.

Not long after her eyes had shut, the door creaked as it opened, but Hermione was dead-to-the-world and didn't even stir. The soft click as the door shut again echoed around the silent apartment, making the trespasser pause to make sure the brunette didn't wake. When her breathing stayed even, he continued further into the room.

She still didn't stir when he pulled the covers back and slid into the bed beside her.

"Move over Granger," Malfoy growled, shoving her shoulder to give himself more space on the bed.

A pained hiss escaped the brunette as she abruptly snapped awake. "Why the hell are you in my bed Malfoy?" Hermione demanded angrily as she groped around on her nightstand looking for her wand.

Malfoy didn't answer her question; he was staring at her with a strange look on his face. Without any warning, his hand darted out to grab her arm just above her elbow. He was surprisingly gentle when he pushed up the sleeve of her pyjama top to reveal the dark bruise circling her upper arm.

Hermione wasn't sure what she should do; he looked haunted as he moved to her other arm and repeated his gentle actions. He mumbled something that sounded like 'I didn't mean to do _this_,' but she dismissed it because he couldn't possibly be feeling remorse; he was evil, spoiled, and a Malfoy, it went against nature for him to feel remorse.

"Malfoy, answer my question." She bit out, bringing him back to reality. He dropped his hold on her arm like it had burned him.

"I wasn't about to sleep on the hard floor again." He narrowed his eyes when her reaching hand finally found her wand and she pointed it in his face.

"You murdered my sofa; you deserve to sleep on the floor." She was without pity for the man who had tried to dissolve her, and earlier that very day banged her repeatedly against the wall.

It may have been her complete exhaustion, or it may have been because she wasn't expecting it, but Hermione could only watch as Malfoy snatched her wand right out of her hand and threw it across the room. He then lay back against the pillows and closed his eyes.

"Just go to sleep Ganger."

She watched him suspiciously, but his desire to sleep seemed to be genuine; he was probably just as tired as she was. Hesitantly, with a wary eye on the blond the entire time, Hermione lay back against the pillows as well, too tired to fight with him to make him leave; he'd probably stop her if she tried to get out of the bed to get her wand anyway.

Since that first night he'd slept with her, Hermione had become slightly more comfortable with him in her bed, but she still felt too tense to sleep - particularly after the events earlier in the day. She rolled on her side, facing away from him in hopes that she'd be able to pretend she was alone.

Despite her lingering anxieties and the awkwardness, Hermione must have fallen asleep eventually, because she started awake when Malfoy grabbed her around the waist and pulled her right up against his chest. Stupid ferret! What kind of former Death Eater snuggled in his sleep?

She tried to struggle away from him, but knew from experience that she wouldn't be able to. With a resigned sigh, Hermione did her best to get back to sleep. Oddly enough, now that he wasn't lettings his rage control his actions, she felt no fear with him so close while she was going to sleep.

When she woke up in the morning, Malfoy was already gone.

It wasn't until she got in the shower that Hermione noticed the nasty bruises that had ringed her arms weren't there – he must have healed her while she was sleeping.

The brunette rubbed a hand over her unmarked arm. Something was changing, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was; who would have thought that Malfoy was actually decent sometimes?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**A/N: Okay, I know I'm not supposed to answer reviews here, but these two reviewers brought up valid points that I felt might be bothering some other people (keep in mind I've been writing essays for the past few weeks... so my explanations came out a little formal and uptight, I don't mean them to be).**

**To **dragonsking,** I didn't make Draco stupid, and he doesn't just let Hermione get away with cursing him. Remember he **_**did**_** try to melt her with the curse that hit the sofa instead of her in his anger. I like to think that Draco is actually a nice person under all the snark and anger, he just gets carried away sometimes. He can't go too far though, as he is dependent on Hermione in more than one way at the moment.**

**To **Tealeavz**, I know Draco's attitude towards Hermione changed a little in chapter 6. Ginny's presence in the flat kind of tore apart the balance they'd developed while they were staying there alone. It served to bring the issues that had plagued them in the past back into the forefront when before they were kind of just shifted to the side because they needed to get along. **

**Also, Hermione isn't fearful as much as wary; she's trying to avoid a confrontation with her friends. She was actually the one who threw the first hex in the fight that murdered the sofa, so Draco was only retaliating... enthusiastically. When she dropped her wand, it wasn't out of fear, it was the jarring impact of hitting the wall, and even when he'd physically overpowered her and was banging her on the wall, she didn't let it stop her from insulting him. However, this was a reminder to her that during the war he had fought on the other side -the side that was trying to eradicate her and everyone like her- so it's understandable she's a little on edge around him. I hope this helped... Thank you for taking the time to write such a thought-out review, I appreciate the input!**

***breaths* that was a LONG explanation. *grins***

**Anyone else notice that blank word document pages are exciting when it's fanfiction you're writing, but intimidating when starting an essay?**

**As always, a huge thanks to GreekGirl for betaing and to everyone who reviewed!**

**On with the chapter!**

**~Frosty**

Ginny was sitting in the kitchen staring at Malfoy with hard eyes when Hermione finally entered the room. Judging from the atmosphere, the brunette could tell the brewing conversation was going to be immensely stressful.

A lollipop was needed - immediately. She walked across the kitchen and fished around in the cupboard until she wrapped her reaching fingers around the much-needed candy. It wasn't until she'd slipped the lollipop between her lips that she turned, glaring between the blond and redhead seated at the small table.

The silver eyes following her movements escaped the brunette's notice, but her friend stared shrewdly at the oblivious blonde.

"All right, what is it _now_?" Hermione sighed as she plopped down into a chair. The comfort of her candy had given her enough courage to ask.

"I saw Malfoy sneaking out of your room this morning and he won't tell me what he was up to!"

Hermione paled. Sometimes she wished she'd stayed in the Muggle world so she could have normal problems like her cousins complained about; cheating boyfriends, computer viruses, that sort of thing. Instead, she got to explain how she had allowed a sworn enemy to sleep in her bed with little complaint after he _attacked _her.

"It's not what it looked like..." Hermione said, realizing how feeble her excuse sounded. It was made all the more flimsy by the fact that it wasn't the first time she'd been forced to use those exact words in her defence.

"That's the second time you've told me that and I'm starting to believe it may be _exactly_ what it looks like!" Ginny snapped, only proving Hermione's suspicions correct; she really needed to come up with reasoning that would make sense to an outside observer. One would think explanations would just _present themselves_ seeing as how she was Hermione Granger and all, but no such luck so far.

The brunette shifted the candy around in her mouth while she looked down at the table, thinking. "Ginny, Malfoy and I aren't even friends, I promise you he's only here because he has to be. We really were just sleeping; I was too tired last night to remember the wards."

Ginny looked suspiciously between the two, but seemed to decide that Hermione was telling the truth. "I don't know how you'd even be _able_ to sleep with him in the room..." The redhead turned her face towards Malfoy and glared at him with a look of disgust.

Hermione shrugged. "It's not so bad once you get over the snu-"

Malfoy's hand darted out and covered her mouth so quickly neither of the women had seen him move. "I promise you'll regret it if you finish that sentence, Granger." He threatened in a low voice.

Hermione glared at him over his hand. It seemed Malfoy was _embarrassed_ about his sleeping habits. She filed that knowledge away for later before pulling her lips back and biting into his hand hard enough to draw blood.

Malfoy whipped his hand away with a strangled sound. "Damn it Granger! What's _wrong_ with you?" He snapped, pulling out his wand to heal himself.

An innocent smile spread across Hermione's face. "Why Malfoy, I'm surprised you have to ask; you know all about what's wrong with me, you didn't let me forget about it all through school." Her voice was more bitter than she'd intended, but the other two didn't comment on it.

Now that he's stopped her from speaking, Hermione realized that telling Ginny about Malfoy snuggling in his sleep wasn't exactly working towards proving that there was nothing except mutual hatred between the pair – it was probably best that he'd stopped her. She didn't regret biting him though, the prat deserved it.

Ginny's laughter interrupted the glaring contest that had developed after Hermione's comment. The pair turned to stare at the younger woman like she was insane – because she was acting like it.

"What?" Malfoy snapped, fed up with being laughed at.

"This entire situation is surreal, you two sitting at the table bickering after sleeping in the same bed." Ginny turned to the blond and once again stared hard, as if trying to read his mind. "Are you aware you just willingly touched Hermione, and didn't complain about her germs even when she _bit_ you?"

Malfoy cleared all expression off his face and stared stonily at Ginny. "Whatever you're trying to imply, you're completely wrong." Both women regarded him for a moment before turning to each other with confused looks; neither could understand his sudden change.

Ginny decided it would be best that they change the subject. "You go back to work tomorrow, don't you Hermione?" She asked.

Hermione tilted her head thoughtfully. "I do... Are you starting your Auror training?"

The redhead nodded. Both of them turned to look towards Malfoy. "Don't mind me," he snapped. "I'll just be lurking around this tiny flat as a shadow while you get on with your excruciatingly boring lives."

Hermione rolled her eyes; he was such a drama-queen. "If you're so bothered by it, we could always go see Snape right now."

His chair clattered as he stood up quickly. "I'm ready when you are."

Hermione glanced at Ginny and shrugged. "Do you want to come?" She was kind of hoping for the company for the visit; being outnumbered by Slytherins wasn't something that any self-respecting Gryffindor would willingly subject themselves to, but if Ginny didn't want to join her, than Hermione wasn't willing to force that on her friend.

"To visit Snape? I'd rather chop off my hand, but thanks for the offer..."

Chuckling at Ginny's aversion to the ex Potions professor, Hermione quickly grabbed a book from her shelves before joining Malfoy in front of the fireplace. She was forced to stop and work out how the both of them were going to get through the Floo without Malfoy disappearing.

Malfoy seemed to sense her hesitation; he rolled his eyes before grabbing Hermione around the waist with one hand and a handful of Floo powder with the other. Without allowing Hermione time to object, he threw them both into the emerald flames.

Snape didn't look at all pleased to see them when they stumbled out of his fireplace. "I assume you're here because you expect me to drop everything and fix the mess you've gotten yourself into?" He drawled with a glare at Draco.

Malfoy ignored the sarcasm and nodded.

"Very well, come down to the workroom." Snape sighed.

When Hermione moved to follow, he put up a hand to stop her. "Miss Granger, you can stay here and read the book I see you've brought."

Hermione was a little confused as to why she wasn't even allowed to watch, but she shrugged and settled down with her book; it wasn't like she'd _wanted_ the extra time with Malfoy, she'd just been curious what Snape was going to do. Being barred from watching made her even _more_ curious, but she smothered the impulse to try and go down there by starting her reading material.

She didn't even get a whole sentence in before she was glancing curiously at the door again. Snape _knew_ how curious she was, he'd probably banned her from the room just so she'd be dying for answers while they sat down there smugly drinking tea and laughing at her. She huffed and turned back to her book, not wanting to let Snape and Malfoy get the better of her.

Three chapters later, the screaming started. Hermione looked towards the basement with huge, horrified eyes. She hadn't thought it would _hurt_ Malfoy. It sounded like he was being tortured!

Jumping from her chair, she ran to the door and tried to pull it open, but it was held tight by magic. Every unlocking spell she could think of wouldn't open the thing. Despite knowing it was futile, she continued her frantic attempts to open the door; she couldn't just sit idly by while whatever evil was happening down there continued.

Just as quickly as it had started, the screaming sopped. Hermione wasn't comforted by this; she'd been able to hear the murmur of their voices before, now she would only hear silence. This meant it was entirely possible that Malfoy was still screaming, he was just silenced now.

By the time Snape and a pale, shaky Malfoy came back up the stairs, Hermione was a wreck. She looked at the two men with rounded, scared eyes. "Tell me this isn't going to have to happen again," she begged, not caring that she was showing concern and compassion for _Malfoy_. He wasn't really so bad, and he didn't deserve whatever had made him scream like that. _No one_ deserved to endure something that would make them scream like that.

"I have some tentative ideas for solutions to this problem, but more testing will be in order." Snape glanced at Malfoy when he said 'more testing'; Hermione didn't miss the grimace on the blonde's face. "Don't just stand there, get out of my house!" the older man snapped.

Hermione was still looking between the two, but Malfoy grabbed her around the waist again and pulled her towards the fire, once again not waiting for her consent to manhandle her into the flames. She just had time to notice Snape filling a large glass of Firewhiskey before they were pulled away by the Floo.

When they were spit back out in Hermione's flat, Malfoy stumbled and fell onto his back, pulling Hermione with him. He landed on the floor with a heavy thud and she collided with his chest, making a lighter thump.

Ignoring their proximity, she looked worriedly into his eyes. "Are you all right Malfoy?" She asked in a small voice.

"I'd be better if your fat arse wasn't crushing me," he grumbled, voice a little hoarse from screaming. Hermione could tell his heart wasn't in the insult. She climbed off of his chest and sat beside him on the floor, still shooting him worried look.

"It sounded like he was _torturing_ you in there." Her voice was just as haunted as her eyes while she stared down at him. What she was hoping for was a denial; maybe she'd misheard and her experiences in the war made her think torture when there was a completely different explanation. Maybe it was something completely innocent that made him scream in pain like that and she just... couldn't think of it. Right. That was possible. Wasn't it?

Very subtly, she cast a diagnostic spell on him to make sure he was unharmed. She was immensely relieved when the results showed her that he was going to be fine, he just needed some rest.

Malfoy reached out and rested a warm hand on her ankle, squeezing gently. "Don't look so worried Granger, it's worth it if I get to go home again." No denial then; Snape really was torturing him. She closed her eyes and let the horror wash over her completely.

She abruptly stood up and left him lying there. Did he really hate her so much that he was willing to repeatedly go through torture to avoid her presence? That would hurt anyone, even someone as hardened to his insults as Hermione Granger.

Ginny jumped a little when the brunette burst into the kitchen and went right to the lollipop stash. "How'd it go?" She asked.

Hermione popped the candy into her mouth and then had to set it on the counter when she burst into tears.

Surprised, Ginny stood from the table and rushed to embrace her friend. "Oh Hermione, what _happened_ there?"

"It was _horrible_ Ginny. The screaming..." She shuddered and clung tighter to her friend. The redhead smoothed the other woman's hair and mumbled soothing words while not quite understanding what her distraught friend was on about.

Eventually, Hermione's sobs settled into sniffles and she pulled away from her friend's embrace, who was looking _very_ worried. "Sorry about that Ginny, the experience just made me remember things from the war that were best left buried and I overreacted a little," Hermione apologised. "I'm fine, _really_. Even Malfoy hasn't suffered any lasting damage. Everything's _fine_."

Ginny could tell Hermione actually meant that nothing was fine. "I was going to go home tonight, but I think I'll stay one more night if that's all right with you?" she phrased it as a question, but her expression left no doubt that she wasn't asking for permission.

Hermione nodded, wiping her eyes. "Sorry Ginny, I don't know what came over me."

The redhead raised her pale eyebrows at her friend's claim, but she didn't push the topic. "Where's Malfoy?" She asked, changing the subject.

They both looked towards the doorway leading into the living room; it was unlike Malfoy to let them have a private moment out of courtesy, he seemed to prefer to make them miserable when he was unhappy. Hermione opened the door to find that Malfoy had fallen asleep on the floor where he'd landed. She knew from experience that torture could be exhausting, so instead of waking him up, she took pity on the man and levitated him into her bed.

Ginny was giving her a knowing look when she turned back to face her friend. "What?" Hermione demanded defensively.

The rest of the day was spent lying on the floor in front of the television while they watched bad movies and snacked on popcorn. It was a much needed break from all the stress they'd been facing in their lives. Both Ginny and Hermione were careful to avoid anything Malfoy-related, as it still upset Hermione to remember the events of earlier in the day.

When it was time for bed, Malfoy was still asleep in Hermione's room. Ginny looked worried. "You're just going to crawl into bed with him?"

"It's not like he hasn't done the same to me on several occasions," Hermione defended. The redhead dropped the topic, sensing that she wasn't going to be able to convince Hermione that maybe Malfoy wasn't the best choice for bed mate.

Hermione paused in the doorway of her bedroom, making sure that Malfoy was really asleep. He didn't seem as big when he was sleeping, probably because it was the way he carried himself that made him seem so large and threatening. She could hardly believe that this peaceful being had caused so much turmoil in her life over the years of their acquaintance.

Just in case he wasn't really asleep, Hermione cast a barrier spell on herself while she changed into her pyjamas. Malfoy didn't move a muscle when she pulled back the covers and tucked herself in, but as soon as she stopped shuffling around to make herself comfortable, he reached over and grabbed her.

For the first time, Hermione was glad the Malfoy pulled her so close when he slept. She rolled towards him and held him tightly, drawing comfort from his solid presence while at the same time knowing she was going to berate herself for allowing the moment of weakness when she woke up in the morning. But that didn't matter just then. He was there, he was warm and he wasn't hurting anymore. Everything was _fine._

She was asleep before she could notice the grey eyes looking at her with surprise as she nuzzled against him.

* * *

Despite all the sleeping Malfoy had done the day before, Ginny was the first one to rise in the morning. Since she seemed to be the only person in the flat with anything even resembling decent cooking skills, she took it upon herself to make breakfast for everyone.

"Food!" She announced loudly, banging on Hermione's bedroom door. The two inside both started awake.

Hermione pulled her face from where it had been resting on Malfoy's collarbone and looked up at him.

"Your friend is just _asking_ from someone to cast a silencing spell on her," he grumbled in a voice even more hoarse than it'd been the previous day.

"She's doing something nice, she made breakfast." Hermione defended as she pulled away from him and got out of the bed. She paused for a moment when she noticed that something was different about that morning. It was with a twinge of horror that she realized the difference was the stab of regret she'd felt when she'd lost contact with Malfoy. When had she started to _enjoy_ his touch?

She quickly left the room, not wanting to be near him until she'd sorted out her strange new urge to get back into bed with him. The world had tilted on its axis and hell had frozen over. Pushing the strange thoughts out of her head, Hermione greeted Ginny with a smile.

Spread out across the little counter-space available were three plates piled with scrambled eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, and toast. Hermione happily grabbed one and brought it to the table with her. "It looks wonderful Ginny," she complimented before trying it and discovering it tasted even better than it looked.

Malfoy walked in and grabbed a plate as well, not looking up from his food once he was seated.

"I'm sure you'll be happy to hear I'm leaving today Malfoy," Ginny announced, attempting to include the blond out of politeness more than out of a desire for interaction with the git. She only received a look that clearly said 'are you mental?' in response to her efforts.

"I'm sure Harry will be happy to have you back," Hermione announced.

The redhead practically inhaled the rest of her meal so she would have time to tidy the kitchen before she departed. She gathered her things and moved towards the fireplace.

Ginny hesitated at the Floo, looking between Hermione standing nearby, having just hugged her goodbye and Malfoy, leaning in the doorway to the kitchen with a blank expression. "Are you two going to be all right without me here to keep your fights on a reasonable level?"

Hermione shrugged and glanced over her shoulder at Malfoy. "Worst case scenario is I kill him, and I doubt you'll be overly upset."

Had Ginny not known Hermione so well, she would have missed the teasing gleam in her friend's brown eyes as they looked towards Malfoy. Something was going on there, but she wasn't going to ask; Hermione would tell her when she was ready. Hopefully, Ginny would be adequately prepared to hear whatever it was by then.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**A/N: Hello readers! I have so much work to do right now it's horrifying... Any yet, here I am, posting another chapter. *nosewrinkle* Hooray for procrastination!**

**As always, thanks to GreekGirl for betaing and thanks to everyone who reviewed! Reviews always make me smile, you guys are amazing. **

**~Frosty**

Hermione glanced over at Malfoy once Ginny had left. "I have to go to work soon; do you want me to leave the telly on for you while I'm gone?" She asked tentatively; it was in her nature to be kind, and Malfoy hadn't been such a prat recently, he'd even had moments of almost _kindness._

She watched as he wrinkled his nose in distaste but reluctantly nodded. There wasn't much he could do as a shadow besides brood in corners, and even Malfoy had to get tired of brooding at some point.

It was almost strange for her to go back to her normal work routine after everything that had happened to her while she'd been on her short holiday. There were moments throughout the day that she stopped what she was doing and let her eyes un-focus and her mind go back over what had happened while she'd been on vacation. She was half sure that none of it had happened and her couch would be back and whole and her flat would be completely empty when she finally went home again.

Her day was predictably hectic; Hermione was almost out of the habit of running around so much because of her time off. When she finally Apparated back to her flat, she was ready to lie in her bed and not wake up until it was time to start all over again in the morning.

Malfoy of course had been a shadow all day, so he wasn't close to tired yet. "Granger, shouldn't you eat something before you collapse?" He asked, leaning in the doorway of her room and watching her.

She'd come into the room to change into something more comfortable than her work uniform, but the bed had been calling to her. Hermione was laying face-down on the soft surface, not caring that Malfoy was probably making judgemental faces at her.

"Too tired for food." Her mumbled answer was probably nearly illegible because the comforter muffled it, but she didn't particularly feel like lifting her head to obtain some coherency.

She was glad Malfoy didn't press the issue; instead he grumbled something and left her to her rest. Hermione shucked off everything but her shirt and knickers before snuggling down under the covers to sleep. Briefly, just as she was on the edge of sleep, she wondered what Malfoy was going to do all night while she slept, but it faded as consciousness did.

* * *

Hermione's alarm woke her up early the next morning. She muttered some profanities in the general direction of the stupid clock, hoping she'd offend it and it would leave. Despite how early she'd gone to bed, it felt like she'd only just gone to sleep. It was only her second day back at work and she already desperately missed her vacation, despite the strange things that had taken place during its duration.

She dragged herself from bed and wandered to the kitchen, Malfoy was seated at the table staring moodily at the grains in the wood surface. He actually had one of her lollipops tucked between his lips, and he didn't seem to notice her as she entered. It was too early for her to bother commenting on his strange behaviour, so she didn't bring up the fact that he was eating Muggle candy and seemed to be enjoying it... in an absent sort of way.

"What'd you do all night?" She asked sleepily as she grabbed a lollipop to suck on while she searched the cupboards for something more substantial to eat.

When Malfoy didn't answer, she looked away from the cupboard and glanced at him, only to find that he was watching her closely. He stretched his mouth into a fake smile around the stick protruding from it. The expression looked very awkward and nothing near genuine, but she found her own mouth stretching into an answering smile as she ate her candy.

Life was just wonderful. She felt like just dancing while she cooked what were sure to be slightly burnt but still sensational eggs. As she sashayed over to the table with her breakfast, crunching the last of her candy, she noticed the Malfoy was shaking with silent laughter.

"Feeling chipper today, Granger?" He asked between guffaws.

Hermione tilted her head to the side and looked at him closely. What was so funny about such a wonderful day? Suddenly, she understood. Dropping her fork, she walked around the table and threw her arms around Malfoy, effectively putting a stop to his laughter.

"You marvellous man! You decided to make my day delightful by dipping my candy in cheering potion, didn't you?" She asked with a big smile.

Malfoy wiggled until she released him and then looked at her like she was a houseplant that suddenly decided to have a conversation. "I thought it would be funny, but this is just disturbing." He looked her up and down before shuddering. Apparently he'd taken his lollipop before he'd dosed the rest in the potion; he was still his usual delightful self.

The brunette shrugged, unwilling to let Malfoy ruin her lovely day. She finished off the rest of her eggs and happily hummed as she cleaned up the kitchen. Had cleaning always been so _entertaining_? She was pretty sure it used to bore her to no end...

When she pranced back into the kitchen to see if Malfoy would like to dance with her before she had to leave, she discovered all of her candy was in the rubbish bin. As she watched, Malfoy used his want to light them on fire. Unable to find the motivation to be properly disturbed by the blonde's strange behaviour, Hermione only smiled at him in confusion.

He actually growled when he saw her confused smile. It was probably best that she leave early; Malfoy didn't seem in the mood to keep up with her cheerful self just then. "Malfoy, I'm going to work now," she called sunnily.

He didn't answer, just gave her a disturbed look and watched the fire in the rubbish bin. Well that just wouldn't do, Hermione couldn't just leave him looking like a grumpy gus all day. Prancing over to the blond, Hermione stood on her tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek. She also conjured a bag of marshmallows so he'd be able to roast them on the small fire if the mood stuck him.

"Bye Malfoy," she called over her shoulder. Glancing back at him, she started giggling; was that a hint of pink she detected in his cheeks? He pointedly avoided even turning his head towards her, so it was hard to tell.

Hours later, when the cheering charm wore off, Hermione was mortified that she'd actually willingly touched her lips to Malfoy's pasty skin. She was also mortified that she'd smiled so happily to that man she'd informed would be stuck with that duck-bill permanently. He'd probably thought she was a nutter.

Remembering that Malfoy had burnt the last batch, Hermione stopped at a store on her lunch break to get more lollipops. She also bought a new sofa at a furniture retailer she'd passed. Malfoy was lucky she wasn't a particularly violent person, or she'd blast him to bits for messing with her disposition like he had.

Once again, Hermione was exhausted by the end of the day. She stumbled out of the fireplace, enlarged the sofa that was waiting in her pocket, and flopped down on it just as she'd done with her bed the previous evening.

She wasn't there long before she felt hands on her ankles lifting her legs to make room for him to join her on the new sofa. Malfoy sat and then, surprisingly, pulled her legs back where they'd rested before, this time over his lap. "This sofa is much less hideous than the last one," he complimented.

"Mmm," she agreed. "Try not to dissolve this one; you bought it." He had too, she'd fished through his bags until she'd found the little pouch he used to carry money and grabbed a handful of gold; it wasn't like he was going to miss it, and he was the reason she needed a new sofa in the first place.

Instead of the explosion she was expecting, Malfoy seemed oddly fine with the fact that she'd essentially stolen money from him to buy furniture – she'd thought he would overlook the fact that it was his fault the previous one was deceased.

"You're lucky I'm so tired, or I'd be murdering you for that cheering charm this morning," she mumbled.

Hermione hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep, but she must have, since when her alarm went off, she was sleeping in her own bed. Strangely, Malfoy was right beside her with an arm flung over her waist even though there was the guestroom _and_ a soft sofa free. Shooting the sleeping blond confused glances, she got ready for another day of work.

* * *

Before Hermione knew it, the weekend had rolled around and she got a well-deserved rest. More often than not, Hermione would wake up to Malfoy in her bed, but neither of them ever mentioned it, so she pretended it didn't happen once she was awake. While she was asleep, she was actually content with the extra warmth and the company – she didn't even mind it when he hogged the covers. Never in a million years would Hermione have thought that Malfoy wasn't so bad sometimes, but that's exactly what she found herself thinking on occasion – particularly when he was asleep and unable to open his mouth.

On Saturday, Hermione actually had to poke him awake before he would release her so she could go use the loo. She showered and dressed for the day and was sitting at the kitchen table with her tea and a lollipop by the time he dragged his lazy, spoiled arse from bed – _her_ bed.

"That's your breakfast?" He asked disbelievingly, eyeing the candy.

"It's really none of your business, but yes, this is what I usually have for breakfast on the weekend."

Malfoy snatched the candy out of her hand and threw it out. When she opened her mouth to protest, he grabbed an apple off the counter and stuck it between her teeth, causing her to sputter and yank it out of her mouth.

"Granger, if you die before Snape fixes me I'm stuck like this forever. You need to take better care of yourself." He told her while she was trying to chew. Grabbing an apple for himself, he joined her at the table.

"I think we should go back to Spinner's End today." He commented, nearly making Hermione choke on the bite of apple she'd taken.

She immediately dropped the fruit and jumped up from the table. "Malfoy! You can't go back; it's only going to hurt. You're willingly subjecting yourself to torture!"

"Calm down Granger. Think of it as revenge for years of verbal abuse." He tried to sooth in his strange, Slytherin way; it was all scales and getting even with them. After a pause, he continued. "Or you could think of it as a fitting trade; I didn't do anything to help you while you were being tortured by my aunt, now you get to do the same to me."

To her horror, Hermione felt moisture accumulating in her eyes. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Malfoy had been there as well... She hid her face in her hands to hide the tears from him, missing how Malfoy's face softened and how he had half reached towards her before dropping his hand with a near-silent sigh.

Her eyes were rimmed with shiny droplets when she pulled her face away from her fingers. "Do you really hate me so much that you'd rather go through regular torture then be forced to stay here?"

She was shocked when Malfoy suddenly pulled her against his chest and held her tightly. "I don't hate you, you moronic Gryffindor," he mumbled into her hair as he held her.

Her heart sped up and butterflies seemed to have taken up residence in her stomach – _hyperactive _butterflies on some kind of drug. She told the butterflies to bugger off; this wasn't the right time _or _the right person.

As abruptly as he'd grabbed her, Malfoy let her go and turned towards the fireplace. "Now let's get this thing over with."

Dazed, Hermione let him pull her forwards so they could Floo to Spinner's End.

Snape was waiting for them when they appeared; it seemed that Malfoy had set up a time to meet the last time they'd visited – it was probably best that she hadn't known, the anxiety would have eaten away at her. Hermione was disappointed when he dropped his grip on her waist the moment their feet were firmly on the floor; she could have used the little extra comfort that it had provided.

Skipping the pleasantries, Snape stood up and looked at Malfoy expectantly. "Ready Draco?" He asked, looking like he wasn't quite ready himself.

Malfoy glanced at Hermione, who had settled on a chair with her knees against her chest and her arms tight around them. "Don't forget the silencing charms this time," Draco ordered quietly as he walked past Severus, leading the way into the darkness of the basement.

Snape paused at the top of the stairs, glancing down after Draco and then back to the traumatised looking form of Miss Granger. He shook his head; it couldn't possibly be what he was thinking... Could it? No, it couldn't. He shook his head again and walked down the stairs after Draco.

Hermione sat and watched the door, waiting anxiously for their return. It seemed that they'd remembered the silencing charm this time, so the only sound she had for company was the ticking of the clock, which was a welcome improvement on her last visit, but still left her lonely.

She jumped to her feet when the door opened and flung herself onto Malfoy before she realized what she was doing. The startled blond wrapped his arms around her while she buried her face in the crook of his neck and burst into tears. She wasn't normally so... emotional, particularly around people who weren't exactly supportive, but all the memories this was dredging up were starting to get to her – she'd also started to feel concern for Malfoy, almost like he was a friend.

Draco gave Severus a confused look over her bushy hair, but Snape seemed just as startled his godson. "Perhaps it would be best if you took Miss Granger back home," Snape suggested slowly.

The blonde nodded and dragged the still crying brunette towards the fireplace. He somehow managed to manoeuvre the both of them into the flames and call out her address without loosening his hold or dropping her.

He tried to gently pry her off once they were back, but to no avail. "Granger, this is getting ridiculous."

Her only answer was a sniffle and a fresh wave of tears.

"I get the feeling that this little outburst is about something more than just today's visit to Snape." Malfoy said, looking down at the top of her head. He tried to gently tug her off of him, but had no luck. There had to be some way to get her off of him...

A small smirk grew on his lips when he realized he'd been going about removing her all wrong, he had to appeal to her Gryffindor side. "Granger, I've been through a lot today and your death-grip is rather painful."

She immediately let go of him with a gasp and a remorseful stare. "I'm sorry; I didn't even think that I might be hurting you..."

Draco rolled his eyes; of _course_, she'd been so concerned about his well-being that she hadn't even considered she may be hurting him. That was just the kind of backwards thinking that got Gryffindors in trouble. He moved a few steps to sit on the couch, pulling her with him so she collapsed beside him. She was too shaken to be anything but pliable and obedient.

"Now explain to me what this fit was about," he ordered.

She looked away from him, and he thought she wasn't going to tell him anything, but then she spoke quietly. "During the war, people were being captured and killed or tortured all around me. People I loved, people I'd known from school and grew up with... and I told myself that it was a risk we all ran during battles. My only comfort was that when the war was won, we'd never have to worry about those things again. But now the war _is_ over and it's _still_ happening!"

Her head whipped around to face him, for a moment he thought she was angry with him, but then he realized it was the world she was furious at.

Draco patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Don't worry Granger, Snape said that this was probably the last time it would hurt so much. The pain was because the curse objected to being pulled and stretched by the diagnostic spells and was taking it out on me, but now Severus has done his experiments and we're ready to look for solutions."

He was glad to see that she didn't look like she was about to throw herself at him and burst into tears again. Leaving her there on the sofa to mope, Draco moved to her bedroom to take a quick nap; he was mentally and physically exhausted after the afternoon he'd just suffered through.

Hermione rolled her eyes when she saw that Malfoy went into _her_ room instead of the guestroom he was _supposed_ to be sleeping in. He probably did it just to spite her, and she wasn't about to show him it bothered her; that would be giving in. Just this once she wouldn't even harbour hard feelings for his constant trespassing into her personal area; the man deserved a break.

She went into the kitchen and grabbed a lollipop, making sure to thoroughly test it for any spells of potions. It was clean, so she popped it into her mouth and settled on the couch for a quiet day.

Before she could even turn on the TV, thee Floo roared and spit Ginny out onto the carpet. The redhead bounced to her feet and beamed at her friend.

"Hermione, I've had the most wonderful Saturday ever!" She enthused, plopping down beside her friend.

Hermione tried to smile happily, she really did, but she just couldn't seem to manage it. "What's made your Saturday so wonderful?" The brunette questioned, hoping to take her friend's mind off of asking what was wrong.

Ginny gave her a suspicious look, but thrust her hand under her friend's nose. "Harry proposed! He also said it would kill him if something happened to me, but it was unfair of him to try and suffocate me just because he had some issues."

The smile that spread across Hermione's face was much more genuine this time. "Congratulations!" She exclaimed.

The redhead nodded her thanks before looking at her friend carefully. "Now tell me what's wrong with you. You didn't kill Malfoy, did you?" She looked around the flat and didn't see him. "I knew one of you was going to die if I left you alone here for too long..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I didn't kill him, he's sleeping."

"So Malfoy isn't the problem?" Ginny pressed.

"Not really... It's more like his situation."

The youngest Weasley noticed her friend's eyes become haunted as she remembered something that had obviously shaken her deeply. She waited until Hermione was ready to elaborate.

"We went to visit Snape again today. They remembered the silencing spells this time, but it was almost worse because I couldn't hear what was happening. It was horrible." She shuddered. "Then when they came out I kind of..."

Ginny nodded encouragement to her friend. She was a little confused when Hermione blushed a dark red.

"I kind of threw myself at Malfoy and burst into tears."

Ginny's eyes widened; she could scarcely believe what Hermione had just said, the brunette wasn't exactly the type of girl who frequently threw herself at people and burst into tears. "What did Malfoy do?" She asked in a worried voice, picturing him throwing her to the ground and laughing or hexing her for daring to touch his Pureblooded skin.

Hermione looked confused, wondering why her friend was so worried about Malfoy's actions. It took her a moment to remember that it would have been perfectly normal for Malfoy to throw her off of him and laugh, or something else even more cruel. That just made his actions earlier in the day all the more strange.

"He hugged me back, dragged me back here, made me let go, and sat me on the sofa, then he tried to make me feel better – or at least stop crying."

To Ginny's knowledge, Malfoy's behaviour that day was as close to kindness as he'd ever been, and it was baffling. He must have been in pain, and yet he still put up with a clingy and tearful Hermione. Something strange was going on with those two... Particularly the foul ferret.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**A/N: I feel like I should warn you rape is mentioned in this chapter, nothing that I feel should make the rating go up, but if it makes you feel uncomfortable and you think it should be M, tell me.**

**I was going to post this yesterday, but I was a little worried about the reaction to this chapter...**

**As always, a huge thanks to the wonderful GreekGirl for betaing and thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**~Frosty**

By the time Malfoy woke from his nap, Ginny was long gone and Hermione was attempting to cook – _attempting_ being the key word. He wandered into the kitchen to find her frantically waving a towel in front of the little round thing that beeped shrilly every time she burned things. The pair of them had received top marks in Potions, so it was baffling that neither of them could even manage boiling water when it came to food preparation.

"Let's go out and get something," he suggested.

Hermione turned to him with wide, surprised eyes; she hadn't heard him come into the room and he'd found her in an awkward position making an idiot out of herself.

"You want take-away again?" She asked with a sigh. It wasn't that she had anything against fast food, but the constant grease and all that salt really weren't good for them.

"No, we're going to actually go out and eat somewhere with multiple courses and minimal grease. Go put on something nice, you're going to have to pretend to be an airhead again."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. She may have felt horrible because he'd been in a lot of pain earlier in the day, but that didn't mean that she was going to let him get away with ordering her around like that.

He stopped her protests before she could even voice them. "Don't even start Granger. You need to stop moping around feeling sorry for yourself and everyone else, I'm going stir-crazy trapped in this tiny flat all the time. We're going out."

Well, when he put it that way... With a huff, Hermione retreated to her room to see if she had something revealing enough to make her appear to be one of the slags Malfoy dated. She found the perfect thing in the back of her closet; it was a tiny little black dress that Ginny had bought her as a joke. The thing barely covered her butt and was so tight that it left nothing to the imagination. Squeezing into the dress, she surveyed herself in the mirror. It was so tight her freckles would show through if she took a big breath. It was perfect for her purpose.

She completed her outfit with a pair of heels that were so high that she only wore them if she was sure there'd be someone walking near her at every second to catch her when the inevitable happened and she stumbled. Hermione examined the full effect. Something was missing... Heavy makeup! She slathered on piles of lipstick, eye-shadow and mascara until she felt like a circus clown.

When she looked in the mirror again at her whole ensemble, the effect was startling. The only thing Malfoy would have to change would be her hair. It was kind of fun to do this occasionally, it felt kind of like when she was a kid playing dress-up, but sluttier.

"Granger, I've been waiting for _hours_," Malfoy called, banging on the door.

She rolled her eyes, but wobbled over to open it; he'd only been waiting for twenty minutes.

When Malfoy caught sight of her, his jaw practically hit the floor. He made a strangled noise that sounded a lot like 'wow' and continued to stare.

Hermione reached over and shut his mouth for him. "Just because I'm playing dress-up doesn't mean I'm one of your strumpets. Treat me like one for even a second and I'll hex your balls off," she threatened dangerously. "Now change my hair blond so no one will recognise me."

"I don't think there's any danger of anyone seeing you dressed like _that _and thinking 'that looks like Hermione Granger'."

She wasn't sure whether that was an insult or a compliment, so she defaulted to offended; it was usually safest to assume insult when it came to Malfoy. "Just do it."

He waved his wand and changed her frizzy mess to straight, blond hair. Hermione didn't even ask how he knew spells to do that sort of thing; maybe his hair wasn't really what it appeared? She snickered at the idea of Malfoy with crazy, dark hair that was comb-resistant like Harry's. She knew the Slytherin would be horrified and offended if he had any inkling of where her thoughts had turned, and it only amused her more.

Hermione was glad that she'd opted for something that could pass as formal –not to mention 'obscene'-, as Malfoy had chosen dress robes that wouldn't have matched the pants-suit she'd briefly considered. "Where are we going?" She asked.

"You'll see," he said with a grin, offering her an arm. Without hesitation, Hermione put her hand on his arm so he could bring them to their destination – her blind trust in him should have set off warning bells in her head, but she was too focused on her excitement about getting out of the flat to be properly cautious about the events of the night. She felt a tug in her stomach as he Apparated them to a fancy looking restaurant.

He dropped her arm when their feet were steady on the ground and Hermione was disappointed to lose the support – particularly in the heels she was wearing. "Isn't this that new place that has a month-long waiting list?" She asked, vaguely remembering Ginny enthusing about Harry taking her here.

Malfoy just waved dismissively. "It is; I have a permanently reserved table."

He started walking briskly, obviously knowing where he was headed, leaving Hermione to do her best to wobble after him.

When the blond noticed that Hermione was no longer beside him, he glanced around to find her and rolled his eyes when he noticed what had happened. The woman could barely walk in those shoes; she looked like she was terrified every time she had to take a step and was tottering far too much to be anything but a danger to herself and others. He suppressed a fond smile and walked back to get her.

Hermione was so grateful when he wrapped a stabilizing arm around her waist that she gave him a dazzling smile of thanks. She made a mental to throw away the shoes as soon as she got home; they made her grateful to her enemies for small kindnesses.

They finally managed to make it inside without incident. The Maitre d' actually turned away from the guests he'd been speaking with and guided them to a table set apart from the rest. Hermione wondered how many dates Malfoy had brought there in the past for them to know Malfoy well enough to permanently reserve a table for them. Such thoughts made her feel a strange twinge of _something_, so she dropped them and filed the entire incident away in the deep recesses of her mind along with useless things that she never wanted to find again like Divination.

A pretty waitress approached their table and took their orders, smiling a little too long at Malfoy, paying very little attention to the other person at the table. Hermione ignored the snub and looked around the restaurant. "It's nice here, and the food looks much better than what I was cooking." She decided, sounding pleased.

Malfoy snorted and crinkled his eyes in amusement. "What _were_ you cooking? It looked like shrivelled black bits to me."

"It was supposed to be hamburgers, but apparently I had the heat too high." She stopped talking to thank their waitress for bringing their drinks. Malfoy's eyes stared at the woman as she walked away, and Hermione had to tell herself she had no right to feel jealous as she watched him blatantly ogle the waitress.

Despite constantly telling herself to stop thinking about it, she couldn't help but wonder what that waitress had that she was lacking. After his initial shock and once-over, Malfoy seemed to actually _avoid_ looking at her. Was she really so unattractive? Dismissing her thoughts as pointless and vain, Hermione tried to think of something to say that might get the prat's eyes off their server – _not_ because she was jealous, it was because he was the one who'd insisted on this outing and it was downright _rude_ of him to ignore her.

Once Malfoy finally managed to tear his gaze away from the eye-candy it had found, the conversation they started got awkward. Hermione felt like he was never looking at her face when he was talking to her, his grey eyes always seemed to be focused somewhere off over her shoulder. If this was the way he treated all of his dates, it was no wonder he didn't have very many second ones – she'd always assumed it was because he was the shag them and leave then type.

When their waitress came back with their food, Malfoy stood up and excused himself from the table. Hermione stared after him with a look of confusion until she saw him snag their waitress around the waist and pull her into the nearest loo. Her confusion turned into bitter disgust. The entire situation served as a nasty wakeup call; this person she was dining with wasn't a date, he wasn't even a _friend_, he was a spoiled asshole who only cared about himself and his next shag – something he _obviously_ didn't have to worry much about because apparently, he could find them anywhere.

She was much more upset about his behaviour than she should have been. Angrily, Hermione dug into her delicious meal, barely paying attention to the flavour as she glared towards the closed door of the loo.

Her meal was gone before he re-emerged, so she paid for her half of the bill –this was _not _a date and she wasn't about to let him pay for things for her– before leaving the restaurant. She couldn't exactly leave the prat there to turn into a shadow, though he deserved it, so she walked outside and leant against the front wall of the store across the street to wait for him.

She was staring so intently at the door that she didn't notice the creepy looking man that approached her from the shadows. He was right beside her and leering before she noted his presence.

"How much?" He asked; his voice was as slimy as his hair looked.

Put off by his appearance, but not one to judge a book by its cover, Hermione spoke politely while taking a few discreet steps backwards. "How much for what?"

The man grabbed her arm and yanked her closer until she could smell his rank breath. "Don't play games with me girl." He tried to growl, but it came out as more of a strangled cough.

Hermione reached for her wand only to discover she didn't have it; of course she didn't have the thing, there was nowhere in her tiny dress to hide it! "I really don't know what you're talking ab-" He cut her off by punching her in the head and started dragging her towards a nearby alley.

Immediately after the impact, Hermione stumbled and would have lost her balance if it weren't for the crushing grip he seemed to have on her arm. She was dazed from the hit, little stars were dancing around in her vision and sound seemed to be doing strange things. Not a stranger to hits to the head, Hermione knew what was happening; she was on the verge of passing out.

Just as he was about to get her around the corner and out of sight, someone yanked on her other arm, pulling her out of his grasp. Her ridiculously high shoes made her stumble into her saviour's chest.

His grey eyes looked her over with concern before he let go of her to punch the man who tried to drag her into an alley. Hermione made a promise to herself to burn that little black dress. She hated feeling like a frail little girl being manhandled by these larger men. Maybe she'd sign up for self-defence classes or something in order to better handle such situations.

The creepy man fled down the alley as she watched, still in shock about what had happened. Malfoy grabbed her arm and Apparated them both back to her flat.

"What were you _thinking _standing out there alone, in the dark, dressed in _that_?" He demanded in an angry voice when they were safe.

She ripped her arm out of his grip. "Do. Not. Touch. Me. The only reason I'm dressed like this is because I don't want people to know I was out with _you_. The only reason I was outside was because I refused to sit there in the restaurant with people giving me pitying looks while waiting for you to finish _shagging the waitress_ before joining me to eat. So don't look at me like that whole thing was my fault, I was mistaken for a prostitute and nearly raped in an alley, I don't need whatever shit you're about to spout off!"

Turning on her heel, Hermione fled to her room and slammed the door. She made sure to cast the strongest spells she could think of to keep unwanted intruders out.

Hermione felt dirty; it wouldn't surprise her if the man who had grabbed her had left a greasy outline on her wrist. She stripped off the dress and incinerated it right then and there. The heels quickly followed; they were useless torture devices anyway. The loo was off the main room, so if she wanted to shower she was going to have to cross paths with Malfoy – something she _really_ didn't want to do.

An idea suddenly occurred to her and she brightened a little; if she were to leave her flat, Malfoy would turn into a shadow and be trapped there until she decided to return. Meaning she could go somewhere _else _to shower and he'd be completely unable to follow.

Grabbing a robe and wrapping it around herself, Hermione Apparated to Ginny and Harry's house.

"Hello?" She called, wincing when her voice cracked a little.

"Hermione?" Harry asked in a disbelieving voice. He stepped into the room and looked from her bare feet to her smudged heavy makeup insufficiently covering the growing black eye to her straight blonde hair. "What in the world happened?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she sighed. "But I need to use your shower, can I?"

"Of course, Hermione, you don't have to ask." He paused, debating whether he should ask his next question. "Does this have anything to do with the reason Ginny's so worried about you? She won't tell me anything."

"Yes, it has everything to do with that." Hermione sighed wearily as she walked past her friend.

"Hermione..." Harry seemed hesitant to ask his next question, but he wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for nothing, so he trudged on. "You're not in some kind of trouble, are you?"

"Not anymore, Harry." Her voice was firm and unwavering in her conviction. Perhaps she _had_ been in trouble for a while there, with her softening feelings towards a certain evil ferret, but her eyes had been opened that night, and she wasn't about to make the same mistake again.

She had a very long, very hot shower, making sure to stay under the water until she felt like she'd managed to scour the day's events from her skin. Her mind was a different problem, but there was no easy fix for _that_. She would never admit it, but her heart may have been just the tiniest bit broken –a fracture really- and _that_ was what was going to be the most difficult to fix.

Harry was waiting with Ginny when she came back out. "What happened?" Ginny demanded immediately once she'd taken in the state of her friend. The redhead's hands fluttered helplessly towards the black eye Hermione was sporting before falling uselessly to her side again, she seemed so out of sorts that she'd forgotten about her wand in her distress. "What'd he do?"

Harry was looking between the two of them. "He?"

The two women ignored Harry's question. Hermione sighed sadly. "I dressed up as one of his slags because we were going insane trapped in my flat, but he just left me at the table to shag the waitress in the loo."

Harry looked angry, and was about to interrupt, but Ginny waved him quiet; she knew there was more to the story. She was particularly interested in finding out who she was going to have to hex for that large purple smudge marring her friend's face.

"I refused to wait there myself for him to finish, so I ate my meal and left. I couldn't exactly leave him there with no way to get back, so I waited across the street. Someone mistook me for a prostitute – a prostitute! He punched me and tried to drag me into an alley when I didn't know what he was talking about."

Ginny moved from her seat to sit beside her friend while Harry started pacing. "There was no room in my tiny dress for my wand, so I was kind of helpless. He came out of the restaurant in time to punch the creepy man, then he Apparated us both to my flat."

"Who?" Harry demanded, looking between his fiancé and friend. He was ready to go on the warpath and arrest anyone who would dare put his friend in the state she was in.

Ginny looked at Hermione for permission before turning back to face Harry's green stare. "Malfoy."

If it hadn't been terrifying, Harry's face would have been hilarious. "You've been staying with Malfoy? You let _Ginny_ stay with you and Malfoy?"

"Harry, calm down, he's not dangerous, just a bloody prat." Ginny snapped. She turned sympathetically to Hermione. "What are you going to do?"

Hermione thought for a moment, going over all her options. "I'm going to pay a visit to Snape." Harry looked like his head was going to pop, probably because his friend suddenly seemed to have contact with several Slytherins he hated on principal.

Hermione borrowed a pair of clothes before Apparating to the room at Spinner's End that was starting to become much too familiar.

Snape was sitting in a chair by the fire, reading when she appeared. "What's he done now, Miss Granger?" He asked with something akin to sympathy; apparently he knew how much of a moron his godson could be. His eyes widened the tiniest fraction when he caught sight of her bruise. "Surely not that?"

Hermione raised her hand to her face; she was going to have to heal that before anyone else jumped to the wrong conclusions. "No, Malfoy didn't hit me. But I need to know if you've made any progress on the cure."

The man looked hesitant, but finally spoke. "I have reason to believe if you were to kiss him, the spell may break."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, but Severus Snape was not the type to joke about matters so serious. She nodded, not bothering to question _why_ a kiss would break the spell. What did it matter as long as Malfoy would be gone once it was finished?

"Okay, so I just have to kiss him and then I'll never have to see him again," she said, more to herself than to Snape.

He looked like he was going to object and say something, but he decided against it and just nodded.

Determined to be rid of the blond Slytherin that had been plaguing her flat for much too long, Hermione nodded with determination and stepped into the Floo.

**A/N 2: *hiding* I'm betting some of you aren't very pleased with me right now. It had to happen though... I mean, he's still Draco with jerkface tendencies and all. This is just Hermione's view of the night, you'll get Draco's reasoning later.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**A/N: *sigh* I can keep my eyes open to write these scenes now, but I still have to slow down to do them, and a lot of the time I blush. *nosewrinkle***

**As always, thanks to the wonderful GreekGirl for betaing! And thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you're not mad at me for making Draco do something mean! Wow... I'm abusing the exclamation points again. *sigh* I'm excited though! A new chapter!**

**For the record: I hate those stupid paper sticks on lollipops. The ones that come on the cheap Halloween bags of them that are all mushy before the candy's even gone. Serious candy design flaw there... **

**~Frosty**

Malfoy knew the second she returned, as he would have solidified when she was once again within twenty metres of him. She waited by the fireplace for him to appear again and come out from wherever he was lurking. He didn't disappoint.

"Granger, let me explain," he started, entering the room from the kitchen.

"You had me dress like a whore, left me alone with my dinner to shag a waitress then showed up _just_ in time to stop that man from dragging me into an alley." She paused. "Did I miss anything?"

"You're really going to blame me for showing up _before_ he got you into that alley?" It was in his nature to defend himself, even when he was doomed to lose.

"But _after_ he had already punched me!" She gestured sharply, bringing his attention to the dark stain around her eye. It was highly unlikely that he hadn't noticed it before, but he deflated a little when he got a good look at it.

"Just let me explain-"

"I don't want to hear it!" She snapped, advancing on him. She stopped right in front of him and stared up at him challengingly. The look he was giving her was somewhere between furious and guilt-ridden.

She took a deep breath to gather her courage before she did what had to be done. Inadvertently, she took in his scent with her air and realized that some part of her was going to _miss_ him. He was like a fungus or something that seemed disgusting from a distance, but once it had moved into your home, you realized that it wasn't a fungus at all; it was just a misunderstood flower.

Hermione sharply shook her head. That man must have hit her harder than she'd thought; she was comparing _Malfoy_ to _flowers._ Whatever had been going on between her and Malfoy needed to be _stopped_ before it got any further out of hand. Immediate herbicide was needed.

Without warning, she grabbed the back of his neck and roughly dragged him down to her level. Her lips were pressed against his before he even had time to object.

She had expected to just quickly press her lips against his and be done with the whole thing; a harmless peck on the lips and she'd be rid of him. What she hadn't taken into consideration was the jolt she felt as their mouths connected that seemed to travel from her lips and move on to warm up her whole body.

Malfoy was quick to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her tight against him while moving the other up to her head to turn it to a better angle and keep it there. Unconsciously, Hermione tangled her hands in his soft hair and parted her lips slightly to grant him entrance.

With the suddenness of a collision, she realized what she was doing. Her eyes snapped open and she pulled him away from her face with the grip she had on his hair.

His darkened grey eyes were full of bewildered confusion as he looked down at her. If she hadn't very recently been on the receiving end of his cold-hearted cruelty, Hermione would have felt like the villain for breaking off the kiss based on his expression alone.

Her cheeks were darkly stained with embarrassment at how carried away she'd gotten. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Hermione looked him in the eyes. "Get out," she ordered, surprised when her voice came out wispier than she'd intended. She cleared her throat to make sure that it was stronger next time.

"And where do you expect me to go?" He demanded, starting to get angry; he was probably upset that he responded to the kiss, it was admitting that he desired a 'Mudblood'. "I can't exactly do much when I'm a shadow."

"The kiss should have fixed that, now get out." She should have been happy, but Hermione was soul-crushingly sad for some reason. It wasn't like she actually _cared _for the git... Was it?

If she'd thought Malfoy's expression was angry when she told him to leave, it was nothing compared to the storm clouds that were brewing in his grey eyes after she told him he was cured. She'd never seen him so furious, and it almost scared her.

He must have seen the flash of fear in her eyes because he suddenly closed down all expression in his face, leaving his expressive eyes empty, like two pools of water with no bottom in sight.

"Fine." He said with a voice so cold it chilled her to the bone. Without further comment, or even looking back, he walked into the guestroom to gather his bags. She heard the pop of Apparation almost immediately after and knew he was gone.

She'd got what she wanted, so why did it feel like he'd ripped out her heart and taken it with him? Horrified, she realized that; if anything, she'd ripped out her _own _heart. With a deep, shuddering breath, Hermione collapsed to the floor and burst into tears.

Ginny and Harry found her that way hours later when they came to make sure she was all right. "What happened?" Ginny asked, kneeling down beside her.

Hermione had long run out of tears, but she stared sadly at her friend. "It doesn't matter; the curse is broken, so now everything can go back to normal." For some reason, 'normal' didn't seem like something she wanted anymore.

"You don't really believe that, or you wouldn't be sitting there in such a state," Harry said sadly. Ginny had explained as much as she could about Hermione's situation, but neither of them knew what had happened to make her go from upset to the broken woman that she was now.

Hermione closed her eyes for a second before pulling herself back up from the floor and shakily standing; her legs were a little wobbly from prolonged inactivity, but she forced them to hold her up. "I'm not in a state at all," she recited in an empty voice.

"I'll be fine, you two can go home, we all have work in the morning." Hermione continued monotonously.

Her friends glanced anxiously at each other, but there wasn't really anything they could do for Hermione, she just needed time to get over the whole ordeal – they hoped. Eventually, Harry and Ginny were called home by their need for sleep, leaving Hermione once again alone. Her flat seemed much bigger when she was alone.

She stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed her candy before collapsing in a chair. That night, she spent hours absently going through lollipop after lollipop and running through the events that had led up to her depressing state.

The crunching of her candies continued until early in the morning, when she finally fell asleep on a pile of wrappers and gnawed paper sticks.

It was the sunshine that woke her up the next morning. She had a horrible crick in her neck and candy wrappers stuck to her face and in her hair. With a groan, Hermione pulled herself up and looked at the clock; she had twenty minutes to be ready and out the door or she was going to be late for work.

She trudged into her room to find the green robes that were her uniform. Just before she Apparated out, Hermione cast one last sad look around her flat, hoping it would feel more normal when she came back.

Work that day was more exhausting than usual; she had barely slept the previous night and Malfoy was weighing heavily on her mind. For the first time in her entire medical career, Hermione did something irresponsible; she left work early.

Her bed was a welcome sight after a long day and sleep-deprivation. She collapsed into the soft mattress and briefly contemplated smothering herself with the pillow. When she pulled one over her face, she found that it still smelled like the expensive shampoo Malfoy had brought with him.

She groaned and threw the pillow across the room, watching as it slid down the wall and landed in a lump on the floor. Why did he have to still haunt her after he was gone?

Thinking back to her life before she'd gone to help her cousin with his insane ideas, Hermione tried to remember what it was like then. She'd gone to work, come home, slept, and then gone to work again. Maybe she wasn't missing Malfoy, maybe she just missed the irregularity he had brought to her boring schedule.

So, logically, all she had to do what find someone else to fill the hole that Malfoy had left in her life. She just had to start dating. The idea wasn't appealing, but she was willing to try it if it would alleviate the feeling that was crushing her chest.

Content that the mess Malfoy had made her life into was on its way to being cleaned up, Hermione was able to fall asleep... after she'd jumped out of bed and retrieved Malfoy's pillow from the floor so she had something to hug during her slumber.

* * *

Gradually, Hermione did manage to move on – to an extent. She met a man when he came into the hospital after a horrible flare-up of his carpal tunnel from flicking his wand in the same motion all the time. He was a filing clerk and only ever used one movement while he was filing.

Hermione thought he was the perfect man for her; sure he was a little bland and there was no spark, but Owen was stable and safe. He was the logical choice.

There was one small bump in their budding relationship; she hated to kiss him, and the feeling seemed mutual. She'd tried it a few times and couldn't help compare the experience to her one kiss with Malfoy. Owen didn't seem to mind though; he wasn't a touchy-feely person and didn't really need her for more than standing and looking pretty while holding his arm at hospital fundraisers and during Ministry functions where St. Mungos staff were invited. She suspected there was more to his story than she was getting, but she didn't read too much into it because she was content with the arrangement.

Harry and Ginny made sure to stop by every weekend and give her knowing, pitying looks, but she put on a brave face and ignored the expressions, forcing herself to smile and engage the two in pointless conversation that did anything but prove that she was back to normal – Hermione Granger did _not_ chatter about pointless things.

She had briefly been broken, survived it, and was gathering the pieces of her life and slowly building them into a new shape. However, this new form was nearly shattered when two very large pieces from previous breaks came back and tried to fit into the new shape, smashing it all to bits in the process.

It had started out as a normal day, but twenty minutes into her early morning shift, something happened that completely threw off the comforting routine that was her life.

"Healer Granger!" A frantic apprentice shouted. "There's a patent that managed to Splinch himself horribly. They need your assistance!"

Hermione rushed off in the direction the apprentice had indicated, only to freeze in the doorway. Her stomach took up residence somewhere in near her ankles and a wave of cold dread washed over her. Lying in the bed as pale as a ghost was the familiar form of Draco Malfoy. She immediately rushed forward and started performing the spells she knew would help treat the deep gashes across his legs, arm and forehead.

It took them over three hours of constant spell casting to pull the git back from the brink of death and an additional hour to make sure there was no permanent damage. By the time he was resting peacefully in genuine sleep, Hermione was beyond exhausted.

The other hospital staff had long vacated the room to give the patient some space to breathe and rest. Hermione had volunteered to monitor Malfoy for the remainder of her shift so she could stay at work while doing something that didn't involve much energy; her choices had been to do what she was doing or go home and rest, and she was not the type to just _rest _when there were things to be done.

When Malfoy started to shift restlessly in his sleep, Hermione moved over to stand beside his bed. Gently, she brushed the hair back from his forehead and murmured soothing words.

In her time away from Malfoy, Hermione had forgotten how _fast_ he could be. Apparently, he had only been pretending to sleep, because the second her skin was no longer in contact with his, he snapped out a hand and grabbed her wrist, tugging on it so hard that she tumbled over the small railing on his bed and landed too hard on his chest.

Frantic, she tried to scramble off of him, worried that she would irritate his mostly-healed wounds. "Calm down Granger, you're not hurting me," he mumbled, bringing his arms around her to still her movements.

Against her better judgement, Hermione found herself relaxing against him. She was just so _tired_, and he was so warm and familiar...

Shaking her head, she made another feeble attempt to pull away, but her heart wasn't in it. "Malfoy, I have a boyfriend," she tried. Sure, he wasn't exactly trying anything besides holding her a little too close, but it _felt_ like she was cheating.

His hand came up and pressed her head back down against his chest, allowing her to _feel_ him chuckle as well as hear it. "Granger, that man is as gay as... well, his boyfriend."

Hermione tensed, but didn't say anything. Perhaps it was because she was tired, or possibly because she didn't actually want to know, but she didn't question how he knew who her boyfriend was, or why he bothered knowing the sexual orientation of said boyfriend.

He carefully looked at the top of her head, trying to judge her reaction to the news. "You already knew that, didn't you?"

Nodding, the brunette sighed. "Yes, I had my suspicions, but I needed someone so Ginny and Harry would get off my back and he seemed to need someone so that no one would expect his relationship with his boss was anything more the business."

Her drooping eyelids were starting to become a problem. If she didn't get off of him soon, she feared she was going to fall asleep against him. She could only imagine her horror should someone find her in her current compromising position.

"I never would have suspected you were such a cuddly person before I met you," she mumbled into his blanket. Because she was lying across him, it was very easy for her to feel him tense.

"I'm not a 'cuddly person'."

"Why is it so embarrassing to you that you cuddle against people in your sleep? Lots of people do it; I really doubt that one little fact would manage to ruin this aloof Malfoy facade you've crafted."

She should probably have dropped the stupid topic as soon as he'd tensed, but Hermione was tired, and she wanted answers.

"It's not the fact that I'm clingy while I sleep that's the problem!"

Hermione was starting to get fed up with his evasions; she lifted up her head and glared. "Then what is it?" She snapped louder than she'd intended; he was rapidly fraying her temper and soon she was going to snap.

"It's only you!" He snarled, clearly very agitated. "It's only _you_ that makes me do that." His voice was defeated by the time he finished his sentence.

Hermione rested her chin on his chest and stared at him with shock. "Just go to sleep Granger," he sighed, pressing her head once again to his chest.

"I can't! I'm supposed to be monitoring your vital-" He lay a finger against her lips to still their movement.

"Stop talking and _listen_. Can you not hear my heartbeat and breathing from there?"

She actually _could_ hear his heart beating steadily beneath her ear, and every breath he took whooshed right under her, lifting her head a bit with each inhalation. "There, see? You're monitoring me just fine. Now get some sleep, you look hollow again like you did during the war."

Humming agreement, she pulled herself up until she could rest her nose against his neck. "Don't tell Harry and Ginny, they'll read too much into this," she mumbled. Sleep found her almost instantly.

A hiss jolted her awake some time later. When she cracked an eyelid, the sunlight that was streaming through the window told her that it was nearing noon, which meant she'd been asleep for almost twelve hours.

"Draco, you need to tell the girl why her kiss worked." A voice Hermione recognised as Snape's ordered.

The hissing sound came again as Malfoy shushed his godfather. Hermione was able to open both of her eyes without Malfoy knowing because her face was still nestled under his chin.

"I'll tell her when she's ready to know," Draco growled quietly. "Now leave before she wakes up."

"Fine. I'll leave," Snape snapped with his usual foul temper. "Try not to be stupid enough to Splinch yourself attempting to Apparate home from the bar in the future." With his customary dramatic furl of robes, Snape was gone from the room.

"I know you're awake," Malfoy sighed once Snape had left.

Hermione briefly contemplated feigning sleep, but she didn't want him to attempt to prove that she was faking her slumber – knowing him, he'd probably start insulting her friends until she reacted. "How?" She whispered.

"You lie like a Gryffindor and you feign sleep about as well as you lie. Did you not notice that you stopped breathing when I talked about you waking up?"

Hermione ignored his question – of _course _she hadn't noticed. She asked one of her own instead. "What is it that I'm not ready to know?"

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. He hadn't looked like he'd recently Splinched himself when she'd been talking to him a moment before, but suddenly he looked exhausted. His facade was ever better than she'd given him credit for if he could hide his exhaustion that well.

"I think you need rest, I shouldn't have stayed here." She told him, not wanting to impede his recovery further. It was obvious that her presence was straining him.

Draco stopped her when she tried to shift her weight off of him to stand and leave. "Don't leave yet, Hermione. I'm fine."

"Draco, you need rest and I can't do this," she sighed, not even noticing that she'd used his first name.

Draco didn't seem to notice that she'd used his first name either, he was a little preoccupied with the ending of her little statement rather than the beginning.

"Why? Because I refuse to tell you something I _just_ told Snape you're not ready to hear?" He demanded angrily.

"That's part of the problem, but there's more to it than that and you know it." She looked up at his face again and something in her snapped. For so long she'd been working to get over him and now here he was again acting like there was nothing wrong, like they'd been dating for a while, when in reality they were just glorified roommates who had gotten a little too close once. _Once_.

She was so preoccupied with struggling out of his embrace and off the bed that she didn't notice the look of complete bewilderment on his face.

He half sat up and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from fleeing the room. "Granger, what the bloody hell are you doing?"

For the second time that day, Draco caught her off guard by tugging her arm and pulling her right on top of him. "It's like you're _trying_ to reopen wounds that aren't fully healed yet," Hermione grumbled into the blanket covering his chest.

"No, I'm _trying_ to get you to speak to me again."

"I am speaking to you." She snapped, attempting to tug her arm out of his grasp.

"No you're not. You're spitting out vague sentences that don't really make sense and trying to run away. Stop struggling and _talk_ to me."

Hermione obeyed his order and stopped struggling, but she didn't talk. She was unsure what she should say. Her sentences weren't vague, she just couldn't do... whatever it was they were doing anymore. She needed to either forget about him and move on or be with him. This limbo they were suspended in was tearing her apart on the inside, and she couldn't imagine it was good for him – whether he wanted to get into her pants or not.

"Talk to you about what? You've made it abundantly clear that you don't think of me as someone important enough to warrant your presence through an entire dinner."

Draco looked pained but didn't seem to have an answer for her. He'd accuse her of throwing a low blow, but the entire dinner had been _way_ below the belt – in more ways than one. "I'm... _sorry_ about that. It doesn't make it any better, but I can explain. Just..."

Hermione scoffed and got off of him, this time he let her. "Let me guess, I'm not ready to hear that either?"

He nodded, tight-lipped and scowling. Explaining his actions to a woman who was hurt and pissed weren't really his forte... Mostly because he'd never actually bothered before. It had always been easier to just find a new one.

"I don't think it's that I'm not ready to hear all of this. I think you're not ready to tell me." She snapped, fed up with his half answers and insistence that she stay with him whether she wanted to run or not. When she walked out of the room, Draco didn't try to stop her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**A/N: *waving* Hello readers! To those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter! To those of you who don't, Happy Weekend! To all of you, here's a new chapter.**

**As always, thanks to GreekGirl for betaing and thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**~Frosty**

Unfortunately for Hermione, Draco was still there when she reported into work the next morning. It seemed that he didn't plan on making ignoring him easy – which wasn't really surprising considering his feelings on being ignored.

"Healer Granger," a frazzled-looking Healer trainee gasped as soon as he caught sight of the bushy hair belonging to the Mediwitch he'd been searching for.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked in a worried voice. The trainees were used to all kinds of stressful situations and it took quite a bit to get them looking as frazzled as the poor trainee looked right then.

"There's a patient that's refusing treatment unless it's from you. He's already made three people cry when they tried to help him, and we're running out of options." He squeaked out, looking like he'd rather gnaw off an arm than be asked to go and treat the patient he was referring to.

The brunette sighed, she had a pretty good idea who it was that was causing problems for the poor staff of the hospital. There were only so many patients with the ability to make hardened medical professionals cry, and one of them was blond, snarky, and probably pissed that she'd just walked out on him when he'd been trying to speak to her.

"I'll go deal with him," she mumbled, dread settling in her chest. Draco Malfoy didn't like to be ignored and he obviously didn't want to be forgotten – even if forgetting him was exactly what she needed.

Apparently, Malfoy's room had been changed since she'd last visited him. She didn't need to check his chart to know this, however, the Healer running from the room in tears was more than enough to tell her where the blond was staying.

"Mr. Malfoy," Hermione said in her best professional voice as she entered his room. She was using her tone to distance herself from the snarky blond and could only hope that he'd go along with it.

His body was propped up on pillows looking a little paler than usual, but otherwise fine. The trademark smirk certainly hadn't suffered because of his injuries. "Granger," he greeted back.

With a sigh, Hermione reluctantly approached him. If she was going to do her job properly, then she needed to actually see his wounds – or at least get close enough to run a diagnostic spell.

His mercury eyes watched her as she got closer, unnerving Hermione with their intensity. The expression in his slate orbs contrasted with the confident smirk he had firmly placed on his lips. It was an unnerving combination that didn't bode well for her mental health.

Why did he have to just appear and ruin everything? Sure, she hadn't been doing all that well moving on from him, but now she was facing a gnawing pain in her chest that was going to make it hard to get through a single day, much less the multiple ones it would no doubt take him to heal completely.

Her face darkened into a glare in his direction before she forced her professional smile onto her resisting lips.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that pained grin Granger, you don't want to smile at me right now."

No, she wanted to scream at him, snog him silly and hit him all at once. With another sigh, Hermione dropped the smile –it was a waste of effort anyway- and cast her diagnostic spell to avoid having to talk to him.

"You're just going to ignore me?" He demanded when he got fed up with the silence.

Hermione nodded, finished her tests and turned to leave the room. She was almost out the door when something squishy splatted against the back of her head and started to slither down her neck in clammy globs.

The Gryffindor froze and put a hand to her hair, where the squishy substance was clinging to the strands. She had to bring her fingers to her face to check to make sure she wasn't hallucinating what he'd just done.

"Did you just throw your jell-o at me?" She asked, turning around to glare at him in disbelief. Apparently they were five again and it was completely acceptable to whip snacks at each other if they were displeased.

Malfoy looked entirely too proud of himself. "I did. I'm not going to let you ignore me."

Rubbing the bridge of her nose with the hand that wasn't sticky with gelatine, Hermione tried to think of a way to handle the situation that didn't end in death for the last of the Malfoys or the loss of her job. No matter which way she figured it, staying in the room always ended with his death.

"You're acting like a five-year-old." She finally said, unable to think of something that would put him properly in her place. It was a mark of how tired she was that the most scathing thing Hermione Granger could think of to say to Draco Malfoy was that he was 'acting like a five-year-old'.

"You're not acting much older. I'm not going to just go away because you're not talking to me."

Hermione smirked his own smirk at him. "I can dream, can't I?" She asked with bravado she definitely didn't feel.

The Slytherin immediately dropped the fake smirk on his face and gave her a serious look. "I'd be hurt if I actually thought you meant that."

"What makes you think I don't want you to go away? Everything was so much easier before you were there! Everything would be easier _again _if you weren't _still_ here!" She sniffled and wiped at her face, mortified to find that her cheeks were wet. Lovely, now she was going to be the fourth person to leave his room crying.

"Since when are you someone who does anything the easy way?" He goaded. If it was an attempt to get her to prove to him that she did things even if they were hard, it was failing miserably.

Hermione ignored him and left him lying in his bed. Why was it that with a few words he could undo all the careful barriers she had put up while they'd been apart?

She hated that he had all this power over her. She hated even more that he'd taken that power and made her feel lower than anyone else ever had, even Ron and the many times he'd hurt her with his thoughtless words.

Co-workers looked at her with surprise as she bustled past them. Hermione Granger was strong. She wasn't someone who cried in public without a major reason, and few of them had ever seen her in tears. The jell-o she hadn't Scourgified out of her hair only added to their surprise and worry at her state. Something was very wrong with the bushy-haired Healer.

"Damn it Granger!" Echoed down the hall behind her, but she kept going at her brisk pace – not running, mind you, that wasn't allowed in the hospital halls unless someone was actually dying.

There were a series of surprised shouts and what sounded like a nurse being shoved out of the way, but the brunette was deaf to anything but the scenes replaying in her head. Of her cousin Chris and a dark tent, of Malfoy dragging her closer in the night, of horrible screams from behind a door, of Malfoy's face after she kissed him and then again after she told him to get out...

Someone grabbed her from behind and psychically stopped her from moving forward. "Granger, would you stop looking at me with that _face_?" He growled, changing his grip from something restraining to more of a hug from behind as he wrapped his arms around her middle and buried his face in the hair at her neck.

"What face?" She asked weakly, very aware of the people watching their exchange. In the very back of her mind, there was a little voice that was jumping around with evil glee as it repeated how it hoped he got jell-o on him while he had his face in her hair.

"The face that says I ripped out your heart, jumped on it, and then tried to hand it back to you."

Hermione twisted out of his grasp, grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the room he'd been assigned. She was not about to do whatever it was she was going to do in front of what seemed like the entire hospital staff – she'd deal with planning what she was going to do when there were less people watching.

He followed surprisingly meekly, considering his contrary personality. She made sure to close the door before sitting down on his bed and looking pointedly at him until he realized that she wanted him to join her.

With a tentativeness that one would acquire around a serial killer that they expected to rip their throat out at any minute, Malfoy joined her on the bed.

The expression on his face was unreadable as she leant over until their noses were almost touching and grabbed his shoulders to shove him flat on his back on the bed. Her hair fell forward to pool on either side of his head for a moment while she held him down and with one hand and fished in her pocket for something with the other.

A quick wave of her wand had him stuck to the mattress with the strongest sticking charm she knew. She could only hope they'd remembered to confiscate his wand as a potentially dangerous patient.

"You _did_ rip out my heart, jump on it, and try to hand it back to me." She told him, watching with satisfaction as he tried to get to her but couldn't move off the bed. She made sure to shut his door behind her when she left the room a second time. He wouldn't be able to follow her again, which was both a comfort and a disappointment.

"Don't you people have jobs to do?" She snapped at everyone who was staring at her. They rushed to look busy as she stomped through the corridors.

As the door of her office closed behind her, she pulled in a big, shaking breath. Malfoy was determined to make this hard, but she could be just as stubborn as he was.

"Healer Granger, are you all right?" A Mediwizard asked, having seen her retreat into her office with tears and jell-o making a mess of her entire head and bringing out the roses of colour high on her cheeks from both crying and anger. She must be quite a sight...

"I'm fine, thank you." She said, putting finality in her voice so he would know to leave her alone. It worked and the man quickly retreated, shooting furtive glances at her over his shoulder that he obviously thought she couldn't see.

Hermione sighed. She cleaned herself off with a spell and put a fake smile on her face. It was going to be a long day, only made _longer_ by the scene she'd just made – which was completely Malfoy's fault. She'd been prepared to be professional and he'd _ruined_ it.

* * *

Never in her life had Hermione been less pleased to find that she was right about something. The previous day had seemed like one of the longest in her life, and that included all the horrible days she'd lived through during the war. Okay, maybe not _those_ days, but it was hard to top the death of friends and the previous day had come close.

She really, _really_ wasn't looking forward to doing her rounds and coming into contact with Malfoy again, but it was a necessity. The poor Mediwitch that had been assigned to deal with him when Hermione had requested that someone else take the case had burst into tears and begged the brunette to take the case back. Her reasoning had been that the blond menace seemed to be rather attached to Hermione, so what kind of damage could he really do?

What kind of damage indeed.

Hermione was too kind for her own good. She'd agreed to deal with Malfoy for the sake of her poor co-workers that were caught in the crossfire between her and her former roommate.

Tentatively, she reached out a hand for the doorknob. On the other side of the door was Malfoy. She took a deep breath and promised herself she wasn't going to let him get to her like he had yesterday.

As soon as she'd pushed the door open, she knew something was wrong. The usually angry blond was giggling.

"Granger!" He said happily – a tone Hermione had never heard coming from him. It was disturbing.

Hermione approached him the same way she would approach a dangerous, caged animal; carefully, with her wand drawn.

"Gimme a hug!" He ordered cheerily, holding out his arms for her.

"Malfoy... did anyone give you painkilling potions?" She asked wearily, picking up his chart and flipping to the page with his medications listed. It seemed that _everyone_ had been giving him potions - nothing that could hurt him, but enough to make him high as a kite. He could probably barely pick out what way was up, much less keep up his usual disdainful personality. His condition was most likely a desperate attempt on the part of the staff to make him bearable or at least get him to leave them alone and it seemed to be working rather well so far.

"Yep," he said happily, stopping to giggle at his fingers. "They gave me _lots_ of potions that tra-tasted ickyful but then I felt alllll better so it's s'okay that the things were yucky."

Hermione started to edge towards the door, unable to deal with this strange, happy Malfoy. She'd just come back when he was angry and snarky again.

When he noticed that she was reaching for the door, he stopped looking happy and switched to big, sad eyes and a trembling lower lip. "You're leaving me? You just got here."

The brunette was pretty sure she vomited a little in her mouth. Malfoy with trembling lips was _strange_. He looked so vulnerable and sad.

"I have other patients," she told him, not removing her hand from the doorknob.

"Just come sit with me for a few minutes? I miss you." He whined.

Hermione actually started at his words. Had he not been drugged she probably would have been happy to hear him say those things to her. No, had he not been drugged _and _had the incident with the waitress never happened, _then_ she would have thrown herself at him in happiness upon hearing those words.

As it was, he had enough drugs in his system to keep an elephant tipsy and he was vulnerable. Combined, these things triggered Hermione's nurturing instincts. Leaving him now would be like leaving a small child who didn't understand why she wouldn't stay with him – or so she told herself.

Knowing she was going to regret it later, Hermione sighed and perched on the very edge of his bed, careful to keep a respectable distance between her and this strange Malfoy.

Malfoy may have been acting like a child, but he definitely didn't have the strength of a child. It seemed he wasn't happy with the large distance between them because he grabbed her around the waist, pulled her close and then snuggled down into his bed with her resting on top of him like a large teddy bear.

"Malfoy you need to let me g-"

"Draco." He mumbled into her hair.

Hermione sighed. He was only making this so much harder. She wanted nothing more than to let him hold her and just lay with him until the pain medicine wore off and he could deliver some comfortingly snarky comment. But she couldn't let that happen.

"_Draco_, you need to let me go."

"Never," he said, laughing a little. It seemed that once he got what he wanted he went from pouting to happy. "I'm never letting you go."

It wasn't long before he was deeply asleep and Hermione was trapped beside him. His arm was holding hers to her side, so she was unable to reach her wand. There was nothing she could do but let him hold her, and it felt kind of good to be near him without having the guilt eating away at her inside and reminding her that she was only hurting them both more in the long run.

Because everyone seemed to be afraid of Malfoy, drugged to his eyeballs or not, it was a long time before someone poked their head into the room to make sure that the two locked in there were fine.

"Um, Healer Granger?" The bewildered trainee asked when he saw her.

"Don't look at me like that, help me get him to let me go!" She snapped.

Luckily, the trainee that had come to find her was more than strong enough to free her. He was able to pry the blond's arm from around her waist and hold it up while she slipped out of the bed, trying her best to suppress the blush that wanted to break out on her cheeks. She brushed her hands over her robes, needing the extra time to compose herself before she faced the entire hospital.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" The apprentice asked, looking her over worriedly. It seemed that Malfoy's reputation as a menace had been spreading throughout the hospital.

"No," not physically, "he was just using me as a giant teddy bear. You might want to warn people to avoid him once those pain potions wear off... He was _giggling_, so someone's going to pay. Also... it may be a good idea to keep a running headcount of all the apprentices, they're the weak ones so he'll go after them first..." By the time her rant was finished, trainee's eyes were round and horrified. Hermione cringed a little, having just realized that her honest warnings had only furthered the rumours that had started about the blond and his ties to the dark side or whatever it was that people were saying about him.

She fled the room, not wanting to face the wrath of a conscious and sober Malfoy any more than anyone else seemed to – not that it was likely that all those potions would wear off anytime soon.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**A/N: As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome! Also, huge thanks to the wonderful GreekGirl for betaing, this story would have been over at chapter 12 without her input, so you guys have her to thank!**

**~Frosty**

When Hermione came into work the next morning, Malfoy was still asleep. Once again, she paused outside his door to listen, wanting to know for certain that he wasn't conscious. She was worried that he'd wake up while she was in there and then all hell would break loose. The eye of the storm was not where she wanted to be when Malfoy extracted his vengeance for the little potion ordeal.

She could only pray that if he did wake up, he wouldn't remember anything from the time he'd been drugged. Yes, that was entirely possible. The only problem was, Hermione was well aware that she'd done something to make the universe turn against her, so the possibility of him not remembering was a whole lot less when she was there.

Gathering her courage, she opened the door and winced when she saw that his eyes were open. They were darkened by anger and accusation as they glared in her direction. Wonderful, he remembered, and he seemed to be holding her just as much at fault as he was everyone else.

"How are you feeling today?" She asked, using her professional voice and hoping he'd just answer her questions, sit still for the diagnostic spell and then let her be on her way.

"Unadulterated rage."

Hermione sighed. "I figured as much. Please don't kill anyone, you were being unbearable and they dealt with you the only way they could think of."

He just growled a string of expletives, unwilling to make a promise that he'd probably break the first time someone not Hermione slipped into his room.

"Besides the rage, how are you feeling today?" She asked again, not deterred in the least by the venom in his voice or the creativity of his profanities.

"Fine. It doesn't really hurt anymore."

"A few more days and you should be able to leave," she reassured herself as much as him. The torture was almost over – for the both of them. He would heal and be discharged and Hermione could get on with living her life free of his interference.

Without meeting his eyes, she turned around to leave.

"I may have been drugged, but I was telling the truth," he called after her, causing her to freeze and turn back to face him.

Why couldn't he ever seem to tell her things like that when she wasn't trying to escape? Probably because she always seemed to be trying to escape...

"You were telling the truth about what?"

"That I miss you," he said, making sure to stare into her eyes challengingly. It was like he thought she was going to tell him that he wasn't speaking the truth.

She frowned at him, since when did Draco Malfoy tell the truth about something he was feeling? How was she supposed to respond that that? She was pretty sure that telling him she'd missed him too was going against her plan to distance herself from him though, so she just flashed a bland smile at him and left the room.

Closing the door, she leant against it. The nurses and patients averted their eyes to give her a second to compose herself. It was a nice effort, but completely ruined by the sidelong glances everyone was shooting her out of the corners of their eyes.

Because she was so close to the door, Hermione was able to hear the frustrated growl from the other side. It served to jolt her back into action. Leaning against doors all day and making a spectacle of herself wasn't going to get her anywhere. She hustled down the hall and went to deal with her other, less troubling patients. Like the man in 402 who was unable to control the curse that had him wandlessly hexing everyone who entered his room.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, by the time she stopped working for her lunch-break, Hermione was exhausted. She was seriously considering using her sandwich as a pillow and just going to sleep for a few minutes when a lunch tray was placed down across from her.

"You look horrible Hermione," said the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood.

The brunette sighed and looked up at her blonde friend. Luna was a Healer as well; she worked with the children, who seemed to find her strangeness as some kind of hilarious game. Around Christmastime, all the children in the hospital could be heard warning their parents about Nargles. If she wasn't such a good Healer, than Luna probably would have gotten a stern talking to for the stories she used to fill the children's heads.

"I haven't slept properly since-" _since Malfoy left, _she finished in her head.

Luna didn't seem to need an explanation, she nodded in understanding and patted Hermione on the hand. "Love's hard."

Hermione whipped her head up and looked at her dreamy friend with large, worried eyes. "Who says love is what's bothering me?"

She'd been trying _so_ hard to be normal, and sure, there had been a few instances where she'd failed, but she liked to think that no one would be able to guess what it was that'd been bothering her. Apparently her despondency hadn't escaped the surprisingly observant eyes of her co-worker.

"Love is at the root of almost every problem," Luna said wisely.

"What if I loved someone who couldn't possibly love me back? And they did something completely horrible that I'm not sure I can ever forgive them for... hypothetically?"

"If you really love him, then you can forgive him."

Hermione nodded absently, pondering Luna's words. Did she love him enough to forgive him for hurting her like that? She sighed and poked at her sandwich without eating any of it.

The blonde watched her friend sadly. Hermione looked so broken. Luna was a peaceful person by nature, but Malfoy was going to be in a world of pain if he didn't sort this mess out, or at least stop tormenting Hermione soon.

Yes, Luna knew who it was that had broken her friend, she had checked on Hermione while she'd been in Malfoy's room when he'd first come to the hospital and had seen her sound asleep on top of him. The look in his eyes as he'd watched her even breathing and peaceful expression said it all.

"Aren't you going to eat your sandwich? You can have some of my lunch if you don't like your own..." Luna said.

Hermione glanced at the container of what looked like purple tentacles that Luna was eating with chopsticks. One of the little tentacles –complete with little suction cups- wiggled as Luna brought it up to her mouth.

"I'll just eat my own thanks," the brunette said, taking a bite of her sandwich even though she had absolutely no appetite. It was better to force down bread and peanut butter than something strange and wiggling. She was pretty sure she could hear the tentacles remaining in the container whispering.

Luna seemed to be content to watch intently while her friend finished half the sandwich that'd been sitting on her tray.

"Thanks for the advice Luna, I have to get back to do rounds," Hermione said. She stood up, and had to catch herself on the table when she swayed.

"Hermione, are you all right?" The blonde asked worriedly, jumping up to grab her friend's arm to help support her.

"I'm fine, I'm just a little overtired." The former Gryffindor put a hand to her head in an attempt to stop the room from spinning. It seemed she'd stood up too fast.

"Hermione?" Luna asked again, sounding worried.

Heavily, Hermione sat down on the bench she'd just vacated. She was lightheaded and it felt like her limbs were made from lead. She tried to answer Luna's worried tone, but couldn't seem to manage to get anything to come out of her mouth. Being a Healer, Hermione knew the symptoms; she was about to faint.

The brunette fell backwards, unconscious as her frantic friend watched worriedly. Luna darted forward and caught Hermione's head before she whacked it on the bench.

* * *

Groaning, Hermione blinked open her eyes and blearily looked around the room. There was a very worried blonde sitting in the visitor's chair.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, bringing a hand up to rub her head. She felt like she was trying to think through molasses and cotton. The inside of her skull was just a sticky mess with bits of fluff sticking out randomly.

Luna gave her a stern look. "You fainted from exhaustion. You haven't been sleeping, you've been forgetting to eat and you haven't stopped running around even though you don't have the energy to be doing it."

The brunette sighed, not liking being the patient instead of the Mediwitch. She did better when she was telling people how to take better care of themselves, not when _she_ was the one being told.

Luna stood up, still giving her friend a stern look. "You're going to stay in that bed for at least another three hours and sleep. Even if you're unable to sleep-" Hermione opened her mouth to interrupt, so Luna held up her hand to stop her and continued. "I've heard that for some reason Malfoy would make a great pillow for you."

With that, the former Ravenclaw exited the room, leaving behind a shocked Hermione. She _knew; _Luna knew about Malfoy.

The entire mess just kept progressing. What was once the little knot that was Malfoy staying with her had grown into a huge, tangled debacle that threatened Hermione's job and everyone else in the hospital.

"I'd ask for a vacation, but the last one didn't exactly go well," she muttered to herself irritably.

"It ended with me in your bed, I don't see how that can been seen as anything less than well. I'd say it was closer to wonderful."

She jumped and whipped her head to the doorway, where Malfoy was leaning. Of _course_ Malfoy was there.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," she scolded, moving to get up.

"Then I'll just have to get into yours."

In true Malfoy fashion, he didn't care if she wanted him in her bed or not, he strode across the room, shifted her over and settled beside her.

It was no use struggling against him when he was so set on what he wanted, so Hermione just wiggled a little until she was comfortable in the bed. "How'd you even get in here? Didn't anyone try to stop you from leaving your room?"

Malfoy was smug. "Oh, they tried, but a few threats and a glare and I had them cowering."

"What is it you wanted, Malfoy?" She asked. Maybe if he got whatever made him torment her off of his chest, then he'd leave her alone to get back to normal in peace.

"I have an idea that could benefit the both of us."

Rolling to face him, Hermione looked up to meet his eyes. Was he going to offer to leave or something? She wasn't sure how she felt about that... "Spit it out then."

"Well, I'm obviously not well-liked by the staff here," he ignored her snort at the understatement. "And you obviously need a break if you're passing out from exhaustion, so I propose that you take me to your flat and nurse me back to health while I make sure you remember to eat and get some rest."

That wasn't at all what she'd thought he was going to say. She'd known he hadn't been completely repulsed by her when she'd kissed him, but this new scheme of his seemed like an awful lot of work just to get into her pants. It was also a horribly bad idea. There would be no avoiding him if he lived with her again, she was having enough difficulty when he was staying at the hospital.

"No." She said firmly, enunciating slowly so she left no doubt that she was completely sure of her answer. "Besides, my boss would never go for it."

The smirk that Malfoy gave her was worrying. "You're seriously underestimating how desperate they are to get rid of me around here. The papers have already been signed, you're stuck with me."

"I didn't sign anything," she objected, earning a chuckle from him.

"Your naivety would be endearing if I didn't think it would get you in trouble someday."

"What did you do?" She demanded.

"Let's just say I learned to forge signatures almost before I learned to write full sentences."

Hermione slapped his chest, but didn't really have the energy to yell at him properly. He grabbed her wrist and put it at her side, holding it there. "Just go to sleep Granger, you're going to need to be in top form to properly scold me, this pathetic attempt is just sad."

She huffed at the tone he was taking, but promised herself she would properly scold him once she'd had a little rest. _Then_ she'd show him who was pathetic...

A pair of big, dreamy blue eyes peeked into the room, unseen by the two residents. Their owner smiled when she saw her friend happily asleep wrapped in Malfoy's arms. Luna was confident that the two of them would manage to get over whatever it was that was keeping them apart.

Malfoy's silver eyes suddenly darted over and met her blue ones. He narrowed his stare, trying to tell her to leave them the hell alone.

As always, Luna was completely oblivious to what the normal social response should have been. She smiled widely at the Malfoy heir and skipped into the room, knowing Hermione was going to be out for a while and that it would take more than a quiet conversation to wake her from the dead sleep she'd descended into.

"Draco Malfoy, you have half the hospital trembling in fear," Luna said, her tone more amused than scolding.

"I'll be out of your hair shortly, so don't worry your loony little head about it, Lovegood," he growled, as quietly as he could so as not to wake Hermione.

Luna just kept on dreamily smiling at him. "How did you plan on getting out of here before you're completely healed?"

"Granger has kindly volunteered to take me into her home and nurse me back to health."

The former Ravenclaw raised both her eyebrows in amusement. "And how did you get Hermione to agree to something like that?"

"The trick with Granger is you have to corner her and then explain to her why you're right. She'll either see reason or hex you, but you still get your way."

Laughing a quiet, tinkling laugh, Luna left the two to their rest, knowing they were going to need it for the fights they were going to get into once they were alone in Hermione's flat. She wasn't worried though, the fighting kept them on their toes and they probably wouldn't seriously hurt each other.

Hermione woke up to someone stroking her back in a soothing up and down motion. She felt well-rested, but the ball of anxiety that had been keeping her awake for a while now was still firmly residing in her chest.

"You seem to have a habit of falling right to sleep when I'm around." Malfoy said.

"I know, I must have something terribly wrong with my self-preservation instincts," she muttered in response, he voice slightly croaky from sleep.

He chuckled.

"Malfoy, you coming back to my flat isn't a good idea."

"And yet, that's not going to stop me."

With a sigh, Hermione extracted herself from his grasp and went to go find her supervisor – she wouldn't put it past Malfoy to just lie and tell her that was what she had to do when in reality, she was supposed to be doing her rounds. Maybe there was still a way to stop the chaos she sensed would ensue should he get his way before it snowballed out of control.

* * *

"Just so you know, I'm completely against this arrangement." Hermione announced as Malfoy settled into the guest bed like he owned the place. Though he had more than enough money to buy the building, at the moment, her flat was firmly _hers._

He ignored her statement, knowing there was nothing she was going to do about it.

"I have a feeling a skimpy nurse's uniform would do wonders for my health," the blond announced, making it clear what he was talking about while looking Hermione up and down in a way that suggested he was undressing her with his eyes.

"Neville actually became a nurse at the hospital; maybe if you're persuasive enough, he'll try the skimpy nurse's uniform on for you."

Malfoy looked a little green. "I think you may have just forever ruined the sexy nurse fantasy for me."

"Good." She announced. Hermione didn't see the appeal in being nursed by someone who couldn't even find clothes for themselves in the right size. How practical was it to wear four inch heels and a skirt so short you couldn't even tilt forward slightly, much less bend over?

Pizza wasn't exactly a good thing for patients to be eating, so Hermione wasn't sure who –besides Malfoy- had actually thought it was a good idea that he come to stay with her. He'd probably just bribed people shamelessly and pulled some strings until they bent under the combined weight of his intimidating stare and wallet.

She grabbed a pot and a can of chicken soup and started warming it on the stove. Someone obviously _really _hated her at the hospital to saddle her with Malfoy for the remaining days of his recovery. Maybe it went higher up then that? The universe really was against her happiness because she'd done something spectacularly horrible in a former life.

"Granger, my pillows are depressingly flat. I think you should come and fluff them for me!" He called.

Hermione tightened her grip on the spoon she was using to stir her soup until the metal bent under the force. Physically or mentally, something was going to snap if she didn't get rid of him really, _really_ soon. It was murder him or have a breakdown, she was sure of it.

"If I have to come in there, I'm dumping scalding soup all over your lap." She answered back. Burning him with soup was looking more and more attractive every time he opened that mouth of his.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**A/N: Hello readers! We're nearing the end... Which is depressing. There's only 16 chapters in this story. *sigh* I'll be sad to see it go.**

**For those of you who read my other stories, yes, I have update three times in one day! Exciting, no?**

**As always, a huge thanks to GreekGirl for finding time to fix my mistakes even though she's swamped with work. Also thanks to everyone who took the time to review! It never fails to brighten my day to hear your thoughts on my stories. **

**~Frosty**

Hermione rolled in her sleep and hugged the pillow she usually clutched tightly while she slept closer. Her eyes snapped open when the pillow didn't shift when she pulled it, but hugged her back, moving _her _instead_._ That was not normal pillow behaviour...

Jumping back and sitting bolt upright, Hermione reached out and flipped the bedside lamp on.

"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing in my bed?" She screeched, watching with satisfaction as he jolted awake and looked around for the cause of the commotion.

"Well, until a second ago, I was _sleeping _and now I'm watching you get all frazzled – which I'm not actually opposed to, I find it bloody arousing."

She let out a frustrated scream and levitated him off the bed, setting him on the floor. Had he been perfectly healthy, she would have just shoved him onto the floor, but she didn't want to injure him and keep him in her care longer; at the rate they were going, her sanity wouldn't survive the prolonged exposure to the Slytherin.

"You're going soft, I don't even have bruises."

"I don't want to extend your stay," she snipped.

Malfoy grabbed the edge of the bed to lever himself to his feet and crossed his arms. "I think you're lying. If you hate me so much then why did you stop the tossing and whimpering that woke me up the second I got into bed with you?"

"My mom used to get into bed with me when I was little and having nightmares. It wasn't you, it was just that someone was there." She was trying to convince herself as much as him.

"You mumbled 'Malfoy' in your sleep."

Hermione blushed and looked down, she'd long been aware that in times of extreme stress she was prone to talking in her sleep. It hadn't been an issue since she'd been living alone, but while she was in school, she'd gotten into the habit of just silencing her bed.

"I'm sure it was followed by curses."

"Actually, it was followed by snuggling. It seems that you can literally recognise me in your sleep."

Wiping a hand across her tired eyes, Hermione sighed. He was supposed to be making sure she was getting enough sleep – or something like that, according to his agreement with her boss, but this entire thing was just depriving the both of them of much needed rest.

Suddenly, she realized that he actually _had_ been keeping his word to make sure she got enough sleep by coming into her room and comforting her when she'd been having a nightmare. That was almost sweet of him – if he hadn't used it as an excuse to get into her bed, then she'd have been touched.

"Just... go to bed Malfoy." She sighed.

He smirked at her and got right back in her bed.

"What's with you and sleeping with me?" She asked, getting frustrated with his perseverance. There really wasn't a point in trying to tell him to get back in his own bed, so she figured that she might as well try and get some answers out of him while he was there. Maybe she could just keep talking until he went away? Personal questions always seemed to make him close off and leave...

"I sleep better when you're there, and Malfoys want the best in everything, even sleep." He said simply, climbing into the bed with her and once again pulling her close.

Hermione sighed in contentment, hoping he would think it was a sound of exasperation.

Right before she fell asleep, she was pretty sure she heard him whisper into her hair. "You're not fooling anyone Granger."

For someone who once claimed to be afraid of her hair getting into his mouth and suffocating him, he was awfully fond of pressing his face into it.

She _was_ fooling someone though; she was very nearly fooling herself into thinking that he just _might_ like her too. He certainly wasn't acting like he only wanted to get into her pants – she couldn't see him going around and snuggling with all his conquests, it would completely ruin his reputation.

* * *

He was still there in her bed when she woke up the next morning. Hermione took advantage of his lack of movement to cast her diagnostic spells. Despite his refusal to stay bedridden like he'd been told to, Malfoy was healing well and would be able to go home soon.

The blonde shifted in his sleep and reached an arm across the bed to the space she'd vacated, trying to pull her closer again. The prat was even pushy while he was sleeping! It was kind of adorable...

Shaking her head, Hermione left him to his rest. She nearly jumped out of her skin in fright when she heard a loud bang from the kitchen.

It was possible that something had just fallen over in there, but Moody's motto of 'constant vigilance' was ingrained in her after the war. Wand out, she stalked across the room and flung open the door to the kitchen, startling the intruder on the other side.

"Pansy is sorry!" The elf wailed, looking at the wand pointed at her with horror.

Hermione immediately lowered her wand with a sigh. "Pansy, what are you doing here?"

"Master Draco sended for me. He said that he no wanted to worry about you killing yourself cooking or the both of you with poisoned food." The elf looked at her like it was desperately seeking her approval.

Threading both hands into her hair and groaning in frustration, Hermione forcibly held back a scream, she didn't want to worry the elf.

"Excuse me for a moment," she said with a big smile at the anxious creature. The elf nodded and went back to cooking what smelt like a delicious breakfast.

"Malfoy!" Hermione screeched at the top of her lungs. She was glad that she decided a while ago that it would be a good idea to silence the outer walls so none of the other people in the building could hear anything happening in her flat. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to properly express her displeasure about the things Malfoy did.

Muffled swearing and a thump came from the other room, quickly followed by Malfoy, all dishevelled and with his wand out. "What's wrong?" He demanded, looking frantically around the room for the danger that had caused her yell.

She dragged him out of the kitchen and cast a silencing charm on the door so that Pansy wouldn't hear them. "Why. Is. There. A. _House. Elf. _Slaving. In. My. Kitchen?"

He visibly relaxed and shoved his wand in a pocket of his pyjama pants. "Is _that _all? I thought someone was murdering you in there..."

"You know how I feel about House Elves and yet there is one in my kitchen _cooking_!" Hermione shrilled, bringing herself up to her full height and glaring fiercely.

Draco had once seen one of those little dogs that rich Muggles seemed to keep in their purses, try to take on a much larger dog that only seemed to look down at the tiny fur-ball with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement. He now understood what that larger dog had felt.

"Are you even listening to me?" She yelled, poking him in the chest.

The blonde rubbed the sore spot and glared at her. So maybe she was slightly more dangerous than the purse dog had been, particularly since she was armed with her wand and a devious brain capable of shirt monsters and any number of evil things.

"I'm listening, I just don't really see the point of this conversation. Pansy _likes_ helping, she was getting depressed at the Manor with no one to ask her for things. I know you're all for elf rights, but do you really want to stop her from doing what she loves just because you don't think it's right?"

Hermione turned her back on the blonde and peeked around the kitchen door at the elf happily humming as she prepared their food.

"Pansy, do you want to be freed?"

The elf turned surprisingly hard eyes on the Gryffindor. "Master Draco promised me before I comes here that no matter how many clothes yous give me, I won't be free. He also promised that no matter how much you yell at him, he's not going to free me."

Malfoy snickered at the expression on the brunette's face when she heard what the elf had to say. "Shall we sit down for breakfast since we're all awake?"

With a huff of irritation, Hermione sat down at the table and let Pansy set a plate piled with food in front of her. Malfoy got the same treatment after he sat down across from her.

"So what do you have planned for us today, Granger?"

Hermione finished chewing the bite of bacon in her mouth, glaring at him the entire time. "I'm going to spend an entire day being a vegetable and watching the telly because apparently, I'm not allowed to go into work and get something productive done."

He didn't answer her, seemingly satisfied that she wasn't planning on doing anything strenuous that day. Or maybe he was just happy that she wasn't going to be anything interesting while he was trapped in her flat and ordered to stay in bed.

Pansy took the plate from her when she tried to bring it over to the sink, causing Hermione to thank the elf with a sunny smile and then turn to try and burn Malfoy with her eyes. He just smirked at her and went back to eating his breakfast in smug silence.

Hermione huffed in irritation. Burning him with her eyes was only putting a strain on her poor face. He was completely scorch-mark free and she was risking wrinkles from maintain the squinty expression. Maybe burning him with her wand would be more effective... But then she had to worry about him retaliating with his wand as well.

She slammed the kitchen door behind her and threw herself onto the sofa. It was immature behaviour and she knew it, but it made her feel a little better to express her anger.

The tension in the shoulders and the irritation that had been making her feel like hexing someone had just started to ease and she was beginning to relax when Malfoy swaggered out of the kitchen and plopped down on the sofa beside her, much too close for her emotional comfort. He was probably doing it on purpose.

"You know there's plenty of other places for you to sit that don't involve invading my personal space." She snapped at him, trying to tug her poor feet out from under his butt. The prat had sat right on top of her legs. It really wouldn't have taken him much effort to move then, hell, it didn't seem to take him much effort to move _her_.

"Yes, but sitting over there wouldn't piss you off, so I prefer to sit here." He wiggled a little, trapping her left foot again just as she'd almost managed to free it.

Well, that proved her theory that he went far out of his way to get on her nerves. Maybe his parents didn't love him enough when he was a child so now he desperately craved attention. Who was she kidding? There was no way Lucius and Narcissa loved their child enough, look what they put him though. That still didn't give him an excuse to be a git all the time.

Hermione sighed and turned back to the telly, determined to ignore him. By refusing to acknowledge his efforts to annoy her, she would annoy him instead of vice versa – or that's what she hoped would happen. It was possible that he'd just escalate his behaviour until she silenced and bound him and left him on the porch for the garbage man. Briefly, she wondered if they'd take him as-is or if she'd have to bag him first.

He lasted a whole five minutes of sitting on her feet in silence before he became frustrated with her lack of response. That was when the crunching started. He relinquished her feet when he rose from the sofa to get a bag of crisps from the kitchen.

When he returned with the crinkly bag of crunchy snacks, her feet were firmly tucked under her bottom, safe from Malfoy. He scowled at her for ruining that bit of his fun, but it freed the cushion right beside her so he could sit even _closer_.

With a smirk, Malfoy settled even closer to the Gryffindor than before and opened the crinkly bag. "Want one?" He offered, whacking he arm with the snack.

Hermione snatched the bag from him and threw it across the room, not caring that the crisps fell out to sprinkle across the floor as the bag made a graceful arc over her living room. Once its arc was complete, it crunched against the wall and dumped in a messy pile of crumbs. It didn't take much effort to cast a quick spell and clean up the chips, so she wasn't concerned about the mess.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She demanded.

He raised an eyebrow. "Offering you snacks? You know Pansy is going to have to clean that up now."

She wasn't even going to address his nonchalant acceptance of the fact that he could make a huge mess and then expect the elf to clean it up for him. "No! You're _here_. You insist on tormenting me with your presence and on top of that, doing everything you can to make me uncomfortable. You may enjoy these little games, but they're only adding to my stress, which was reaching pretty impressive levels even before you were here!"

The smirk he'd been wearing almost constantly since they'd set foot back in her flat faded and he sighed. He seemed to be contemplating something very hard, that intense look was back in his eyes.

"What would you say if I told you I love you?" He asked.

Hermione snorted. "I'd tell you you're about as likely to love me as Luna is to eat something normal for once." She pictured the purple tentacles from the previous day and then the orange slime that kept trying to crawl away... "I once saw her eat a sandwich with enough dirigible plum jelly on it that the quarters kept floating away. She had to tether them down until she was ready to eat them.

"You're not changing the subject. Who are you to tell me who I can and can't love?" Draco demanded.

"I am a MUDBLOOD! In case you don't remember, you've made your feelings on people like me abundantly clear."

"I haven't been treating you like someone inferior, and I don't feel that way about Muggleborns anymore."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. He'd been ordering her around and attempting to get her to bend to his will since day one. How was that not treating her like someone inferior? Sure he'd stopped with the slurs, but that was hardly enough.

"I stand by my earlier statement; there's no way you love me. Maybe you want to _shag _me, but you don't love me." She insisted.

He was starting to get angry with her adamant refusal to believe that he could love her. If he didn't know better, he might think that she assumed he wasn't _capable_ of love, but he had a feeling this had more to do with her insecurities than with his capabilities.

It was obvious that she wasn't going to accept his hypothetical situation as anything other than a joke. He sighed again. "This whole conversation is why you're not ready to hear what Snape told me."

Hermione hated not knowing things, she was frustrated with his refusal to give her the answers she wanted and confused by the direction he'd taken their conversation. Was he trying to mock her? Had he somehow realized that her feelings towards him were a little more than the hate she did her best to present?

Abruptly, Hermione stood up and stormed out of the room, refusing to let him just mock her anymore. She slammed her bedroom door behind her. Sitting there and trying to relax was an effort in futility if he was going to sit with her and mock her. If he was going to do that, then she'd just get her relaxing done in her room. Alone. With the door locked.

"Granger, we're not finished with this conversation!" Malfoy yelled from the other side of the door. He banged on it, but the spells Hermione had cast kept him firmly on the other side.

That is, until he blasted a hole in the wall beside the door and climbed into the room. She really should have learned from the past and reinforced all the walls as well.

"You have to stop _doing_ that!" Hermione yelled at him. She'd taken the protection spells off the walls when he'd left, not thinking she was going to need them again. N_ormal_ houseguests didn't feel the need to blast _holes in the wall_ to get into rooms she was trying to keep them out of.

"Then you have to stop walking away from me while I'm talking to you!"

"You were talking nonsense!"

"No, I was asking you a serious question," he insisted, talking to her like a child, which he should have known was a bad idea.

"You weren't! You were just mocking me because I love you," Hermione said. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands, shocked at what she'd revealed. Draco wasn't the type to love, he was the type to shag and leave. She berated herself for revealing her feelings, knowing that she probably wasn't going to like whatever answer he had for her.

Raising her eyes to his, she waited for him to move, to speak, to do _something_.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**A/N: Okay, so it wasn't very nice of me to leave you guys with a cliff hanger... As a consolation, here's the next chapter days sooner than I was going to give it to you. *grins* Am I forgiven?**

**Only one chapter after this one! *sigh* On the bright side, I'm writing a one-shot that takes place after the ending of this story. It's going to be called **_**Shadow No Longer**_**. There'll be an author's note at the end of the next chapter with more information!**

**Also, thanks to GreekGirl for betaing this and thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**~Frosty**

Draco watched with a frown as she unconsciously hunched up her shoulders, as if she was anticipating some sort of blow. Did she expect him to laugh? What kind of prat did she think he was? His eyebrows drew together when he realized she expected him to be the kind of prat he'd been to her for most of his life.

She just stood there wringing her hands and looking completely mortified about her blurted confession. Hermione Granger was not supposed to be so meek in the presence of _anyone_, particularly a Malfoy. She was supposed to be fiery and confident in everything she did.

Taking three large, confident strides, he crossed the space between them and kept going. Even after he collided with the smaller form of the Gryffindor, Malfoy kept walking, grabbing her and pushing her backwards in front of him.

Hermione squeaked when the backs of her legs hit her bed and Malfoy pushed her over. He fell with her, bringing her arms to either side of her shoulders to stop himself from squishing her. He used his weight to pin her to the bed. The former Gryffindor tried to object, but he covered her mouth with his own before the words were even formed and after that it was too late, they'd fled from her lust addled brain.

Immediately, her arms came up around him to try and pull him closer, causing him to internally smirk; so much for her anger.

No sooner than he had brought his hands up to her hair, she was shoving against his chest, trying to get him off of her. They were both breathing heavily when he finally pulled back a little, looking askance at her.

"That wasn't an invitation to shag me!" She snarled, pushing against his chest again until he relented and got off of her.

"I wasn't _taking_ it as an invitation to shag you," he growled back.

"Then why'd you jump on me the moment I said it? I'll tell you why: you're a Slytherin and an opportunist."

"And you're a nagging bitch of a Gryffindor who refuses to accept that I just might love her back without ulterior motives!"

Some of Hermione's anger faded as she looked at him. He seemed so honest... which was downright disturbing in a Slytherin, particularly Malfoy. But, _as_ a Slytherin, he was probably good at seeming honest when he really wasn't. She was torn between believing him and giving him the chance to hurt her again or protecting herself.

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, not allowing herself to trust him that easily – he would only hurt her, just like last time. "Why should I believe you?"

There, that should throw him off for a while...

"The only way to break the curse that I was under was kiss with true love behind it. From both sides." The blonde told her without pausing to think about his answer. "It was designed so, should the caster of the spell fall in love with his mistress, they could have an out, a chance for a relatively normal relationship." Either he'd already had it prepared or it was the truth.

He reached for her again, expecting her to be pleased with the new information. He'd just admitted that he loved her too... Why wasn't she smiling or throwing herself at him or _something_?

Hermione took a step back so she was out of his reach. "That was what Snape told you I needed to know at the hospital, didn't he? Why wasn't I ready to know that?"

Why hadn't he wanted her to know that? Hermione was frustrated and angry, anxious and jittery all at once. Even if he wasn't lying –and she still wasn't sure if he was- she still didn't think anything could amount from a fling with Malfoy. She knew it'd be a fling because Malfoy didn't have relationships, not the way normal people did. Then again... she wouldn't have thought that Malfoy could fall in love and here he was admitting it.

"Granger-" He tried, reaching for her again in an attempt to stop the raging thoughts he could see swirling in her eyes. If she had time to think everything over, he didn't think he stood a chance. Logic told him that a relationship between them would be a bad idea, so it had to be practically _screaming_ at her to step away from the Slytherin.

"I can't believe you'd keep something like that from me! You let me spend all that time miserable and missing you while you were off laughing because you knew I loved you!" She yelled, poking him in the chest with her finger.

Draco tried to grab her hand, but she spun out of reach and faced him from the other side of the room. She knew if he got his hands on her, he'd be able to persuade her to listen, but she didn't _want_ to listen, she wanted to be angry at him.

"You think I spent the time away laughing? I spent it just as miserable as you... I just dealt with the misery with alcohol instead of depriving myself of food and sleep until I collapsed! Is this really about me not telling you what that kiss really meant or is it about something else?"

"You shagged that waitress!" Hermione yelled. She was as surprised by her outburst as he seemed to be. The incident had been eating her up inside for a long time, so it wasn't entirely shocking that it just burst out without her consent.

"I thought we were past that," he said coldly.

"Would you be?" She asked, her voice screechy and high pitched. The hysteria was bubbling forth and she could feel tears starting in her eyes. She had always been irritated when girls like Lavender got all hysterical over boys, but Malfoy seemed to have that effect on her.

"That's different." The blonde was trying to keep himself aloof and unaffected by her tears, he was only succeeding externally with a cold and closed face. Internally, he wanted nothing more than to make her feel better. His problem was that the thing that was making her cry was something he'd _already _done, there wasn't much he could do about it _now_ save for finding a time-turner and hexing himself to stop a huge mistake.

"_How _is that any different?"

"It just is!" He insisted. The difference was that she'd managed to hold herself together, while if the situation had been reversed, he would have murdered the bloke that dared to touch her and then gone on a rampage, probably injuring several innocent bystanders.

"Oh, that's really mature, you don't even have a reason."

He groaned and covered his eyes with a hand before stalking forward and grabbing her by her wrist. He had something to say and he wasn't going to let her run away or hit him in the middle of it. Their relationship had begun when he grabbed her wrist to keep himself solid, now the situation was flipped; he was holding her wrist to keep _her_ there. Careful to keep a hand around her wrist to stop her from leaving, he stared into her eyes, trying to put his regret for his actions behind the look.

"That thing with the waitress was a stupid mistake on my part... You have to understand Granger, being constantly in your company and not be able to _touch_ you –well, not touch you the way I wanted- was driving me insane. And those damn _candies_ of yours! You were always sucking on them and I just wanted to-" He stopped to avoid making a fool of himself.

"I'm listening." She grumbled, softening a little and letting him tug her over to sit on the bed.

"The waitress was meaningless; she just proved that I only want you." Draco made a disgusted face. "I'm going to regret saying this once the pain medication wears off: before I met you, I was like the shadow. You didn't just make me corporeal when I met you again, you made me alive. I love you."

Hermione waited patiently throughout his entire speech before grinning hugely at him. "You're not on any pain medications - that was all you."

His silver eyes narrowed and he growled. "Granger, now's not the time for games."

"I think now's the perfect time for games. We can play one of my favourites: reasons I'm still mad at you. I don't care what your motivations were, that stunt in the restaurant was downright cruel." She snipped.

Whether he deserved it or not, Hermione felt like a villain when the hopeful spark hidden deep in his eyes faded away into nothing, replaced by a haunting sadness. He didn't give up though.

"If you'll let me, I'll do everything I can to make up for it," he told her solemnly.

She let him wonder for a second longer for putting her through the whole waitress ordeal before lifting her head and kissing him. His glare melted away and he grabbed her hips to pull her into his lap so he didn't have to bend at a funny angle to reach her.

Hermione pulled away and smiled at him. "I love you too," she sighed before once again kissing him.

He actually growled when she pulled away once more. She hadn't really wanted to, but there was something that needed to be said before... whatever this was went any further.

"Just to be clear: you're not forgiven, but I'm giving you a chance to make it up to me."

"Damn it woman! Do we have to have this discussion _now_?" If he didn't suspect that she'd hex him for it, he would have tried to kiss her again.

"Yes _now_! Don't think I haven't noticed you never properly apologised-" he opened his mouth to object, but Hermione cut him off "- and if you tell me 'Malfoys don't apologise' I'm leaving right now."

He tightened his grip on her so she couldn't escape. Hermione made an irritated squeak and squirmed, trying to get away on principle just because he'd attempted to stop her.

"Give me a minute." He said, letting her know that he wasn't going to try and keep her there by force; he was keeping her there because he had something to tell her and needed the time to figure out how to phrase it.

Hermione stopped her struggle and looked up at him while he stared off over her shoulder at the blank wall. She was pleased that he seemed to be taking her threat of leaving seriously. While she waited, she allowed herself to relax against him, knowing that if he mangled whatever apology she was about to hear, then it was unlikely she was going to be so close to him again.

"I'm... sorry," he eventually said reluctantly but honestly, "for hurting you like I did, for not being there before someone else hurt you, and for leaving you miserable while you nearly killed yourself with neglect. I'll never forgive myself for any of it, but you've always been kinder than me..."

"If you _ever_ do _anything_ like that again, you'll regret ever having met me," she threatened, slightly softening the rigid posture she'd unconsciously assumed when he'd started speaking.

Draco nodded, accepting her threat without comment. He was pleased that she'd relaxed, it boded well for him that she wasn't so tense anymore. His grip shifted to pull her closer and she didn't resist, going as far as to snuggle against him.

"And I reserve the right to hex you for the waitress incident later, once you're healed." She added. Revenge wouldn't be near as sweet if he was seriously injured and she only worsened it. She wanted to embarrass him, give him something to remember the next time he so much as _glanced_ towards a waitress, not kill him.

He nodded again, but this time his lips were quirked into a smirk, ruining the effect. "Then I'm going to have to work extra hard while I'm bedridden to get you to forgive me."

Pulling her face up to his, Draco kissed her. When she melted against him, he knew that she couldn't stay _too_ angry with him for very long – and if she did, he had _ways_ to get her to forgive him, ways he suspected he'd enjoy just as much as he'd make sure she did.

* * *

Hermione was sitting on the sofa, once again eating her way through her stash of lollipops and thinking about everything Malfoy had told her. As far as she could tell, he was being honest about everything. And kissing him made her feel lighter than she'd felt since before she'd kicked him out of her flat.

Their relationship may not work out, but she was pretty sure it would be one hell of a ride...

Malfoy found her when she was halfway through the bucket of candy. He'd been sleeping -_alone_, in his own bed- when he'd heard the telly on in the other room and decided to investigate. He plopped down beside her and slung an arm around her shoulders, and revelled his newfound ability to casually touch her. She leant against him instead of yelling at him as he surveyed the growing pile of candy-wrappers on the floor by her feet.

"Granger, what are you doing? You're supposed to be resting, and here you are in the middle of the night eating sugar and _not_ sleeping." All that sugar wasn't going to help her fall asleep at all. If anything, it would make her more jittery and less likely to ever sleep that night.

She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, feeling like a child, but enjoying the light-heartedness of their interactions. Their usual range of activities went from fighting to snogging, the light teasing was nice. To have Malfoy scolding her for not taking care of herself was almost surreal.

He shook his head at her antics, but there was a small grin quirking up a corner of his mouth, letting her know that he found her amusing. The grin suddenly changed to something a little darker as he stared at her.

"There are better ways to spend your not-sleeping time at night..." He leant forward and pulled the candy out of her mouth, replacing it with his lips.

The kiss was slower than their previous ones, they were both relaxed and the angst that had been plaguing them had receded significantly. It was sticky with the candy residue all over Hermione's lips, but Draco didn't mind, it seemed to compliment her own sweet taste.

Hermione was the one to pull away first.

"Whatever you suggest after that sentence isn't going to be restful and that was your original complaint." She effortlessly rebuffed, gently pushing him back until he was sitting beside her again instead of leaning over her. In one graceful movement she was back in the position he'd found her in, leaning slightly against the arm of the sofa. Her candy went immediately back into her mouth and she grinned at him around it before turning her attention back to the telly.

Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced back at him to find him staring intently at the candy. They were a guilty pleasure and a childish habit, but Malfoy didn't seem to mind it at all.

"You don't think the lollipops make me look like a child?" She asked, remembering his earlier comment about her 'damn candies'.

"Merlin, no."

Hermione shook her head sadly. "Owen said I should stop eating them because 'no one over thirteen could look anything but idiotic and childish eating something like that'."

"Then he has the imagination of a soggy cardboard box."

Wordlessly, she fished in the bin, pulled out a candy and offered it to him.

"Malfoys do not eat lollipops!" He said indignantly, ignoring the fact that she'd witnessed him doing just that at her kitchen table once. When she just continued to stare at him, he softened and reached for the candy.

"Don't think I didn't notice that the rate they disappeared increased rapidly after your arrival."

"Malfoys eat lollipops in secret, where the shameful habit belongs." He amended, popping the candy in his mouth.

She snuggled against him, not objecting when he leaned back until he was lying on the sofa and pulled her onto his chest. Considering the volatility of their relationship, it was surprising how relaxed she could be in his presence. She rested her head against him and listened to his heart beat for a moment.

Crunching the rest of her candy to get the thing out of the way, she threw a leg over the both of his and leant back to sit on the tops of his thighs.

Now that he knew he had her, it seemed that Malfoy was perfectly willing to draw out her torture. With exaggerated slowness, he pulled his own candy into his mouth, sucked on it for a moment, and then slowly pulled it out again, resting it on his bottom lip while he gave her a knowing smirk. "You have no idea how many of these I've had to watch you eat, you can wait until I finish this one."

Hermione glared at him as he sucked the candy into his mouth again. Frustrated, she snatched it out of his hands, shoved it into her own mouth and crunched it into little bits between her teeth. She swallowed the sugary substance and then smiled at him smugly.

Malfoy's blonde brows rose. "I probably would've saved myself a lot of suffering if I'd just done that to you."

"I would have hexed you into the next century."

"You're lucky I'm so tolerant of your mistreatment then."

Hermione shook her head at his cocky attitude, but leaned down to kiss him anyway. He seemed to think that she was too far away; he grabbed her around the waist and tugged until she fell flat against his chest _again_. He really had issues with asking, but it seemed to be an inherited trait, so she couldn't really complain – particularly since she was more than willing to give what he _wasn't_ asking.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**A/N: *tear* The last chapter! I've been done writing this story for over a month now... Maybe two, I can't remember. It's still sad to be posting the last chapter and officially done with it (except for the oneshot, I wrote more about it after this chapter so I don't give anything away).**

**As always, thanks to GreekGirl for betaing and thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially those of you who have been with this from the start! You guys are the best!**

**For the few of you who saw this in the coupe minutes it took me to realize there were too many words in this chapter sorry about that. It looks like I accidentally pasted you a chapter of _Pansy's Revenge... _You should probably just ignore it.  
**

**~Frosty**

The brunette blinked her eyes open, and glanced around in confusion. Why was she sleeping on the sofa? Usually, she had trouble sleeping on the uncomfortable piece of furniture...

Malfoy shifted slightly underneath her and tightened the arm holding her to his chest. Ah, that explained it. She remembered coming out of her room to watch a few late-night shows and eat some candy because she couldn't sleep. Malfoy had found her and they'd eventually fallen asleep there, tangled together in a loving embrace.

Part of Malfoy's agreement with the hospital stated that both he and Hermione would report back to be checked over before he would be officially discharged and she could go back to work. Her appointment was rapidly approaching, so she should really start getting ready.

Smiling at the sleeping blonde, Hermione kissed his cheek and extracted herself from his grasp. He shifted slightly and made a quite humming sound that she could only assume was contentment as her hair brushed his face when she stood. The git would deny it if she brought it up, but he was more cuddly and affectionate than he let on.

Her appointment was much earlier than his –probably his doing in an effort to irritate her- so she quickly showered and dressed.

She was nearly in the fireplace when Pansy ran into the room and stuffed a sandwich in her hand. The elf accompanied the food with a stern glare that brooked no argument, so Hermione meekly took a bite, smiling her thanks. It seemed that Malfoy had spoken to the elf about her poor eating habits and the little creature had taken it upon herself to remedy them.

Satisfied, Pansy left the room again to clatter around in the kitchen. She was probably hoping to make enough noise to 'accidentally' wake up Malfoy so he could get an early start to his day.

Hermione shot one last look at the sprawled form on the sofa before shaking her head fondly and entering the fire with a smile. It was amazing what a few hours could do to a person's outlook on the world; one moment she and Malfoy were at each other's throats, and the next they were together.

As the premier hospital for magical maladies in the Northern hemisphere, St. Mungoes never closed. It did however, have lulls in activity that could make the entire hospital feel eerily quiet; the kind of quiet that makes people antsy because they start expecting something horrible to happen and break it.

Hermione could tell as soon as she exited the Floo system that one of these types of quiet had descended on the building. After working there for a few months, the brunette had come to understand that these lulls didn't always foretell some catastrophe, they were just natural breaks in activity. The lulls never failed to make late-night visitors uncomfortable as they wandered the halls in search of a caffeinated beverage to help them survive the remainder of the night.

She nearly fell over when Luna came bustling around the corner, reading a clipboard that was propped on her hip as she hummed a song with no real tune. It figured that Luna was completely unaffected by the atmosphere of the place and just carried on her merry way.

"Oh! Hermione, you're looking much better," Luna said when she saw her friend. "I take it things worked out with you and Malfoy?"

The brunette wrinkled her nose to hide the dreamy smile the threatened to overtake her lips. The expression probably made her look like a mental patient. "Sort of. There's currently a House Elf in my kitchen cooking, so we obviously still have _some_ issues to work out."

Luna beamed and hugged her friend. "But that's the fun part! Particularly for two people who love to fight so much. It's once all the issues are all worked out and you can't find anything to fight about that you'll have to start to worry." She tilted her blonde head to the side. "I suppose you could always revert to school rivalries..." her blue eyes lit up with the possibility. "I think you should start sooner than later, Malfoy would _love_ pretending he's corrupting an innocent little Gryffindor. Do you still have your uniform?"

Hermione blushed at the things her friend was suggesting. She actually _did_ still have her old uniform, though it was a little tighter in the chest and hips than it had been when she was 18. Maybe, if he was really, _really_ good, she'd show Malfoy someday. In the meantime, it was out of the question. Unless he still had _his_ old school uniform and was willing to wear it for her... He'd filled out in the shoulders since school had ended, so it probably wouldn't even fit him anymore. It was a shame, he'd probably look great in it. He definitely had _then_ and he'd been such a prat back then that his personality had detracted from his attractiveness.

"Luna, what in the world is _in_ those tentacles you're always eating? I think it's affecting your brain." Hermione mumbled, feeling the need to give a token objection. She didn't miss Luna's knowing smile and only blushed harder.

So she was considering the suggestion, it wasn't like Luna needed to know that. Though it seemed Luna knew anyway.

"I have an appointment to get to, I'll see you later," she told her friend, using it as an excuse to flee.

"The tentacles are actually a plant, related to the grape as a matter of fact. They taste similar, but I like the little extra wiggle as they go down," Luna's dreamy voice followed her as she strode down the corridor towards the office of her supervisor. Hermione shuddered in revulsion; who would _want_ to eat something that was slimy-looking and _wiggled_ on the way down?

* * *

Happily, Hermione was given a clean bill of health. She was ordered to spend another day keeping up the rest and eating, but after that she was free to return to work.

On the way back to the Floo station in the lobby, she passed her office and noticed that the door was open, which was odd since she was always careful to lock it behind her. Just in case, she slipped her wand into her hand before hesitantly peeking around the door.

When she saw into the room, she nearly chucked her wand at the trespasser in irritation. A less effective technique than hexing, sure, but it would be an accurate reflection of her frustration. It wasn't like he was dangerous and she'd need her wand against this particular threat anyway. Seated behind her desk like he owned the place was Malfoy, looking smug.

"I thought I'd come to see what all the fuss was about," he explained when she didn't immediately throw herself at him.

"How did you know where my office is?" she asked.

"Everyone here's still afraid of me; it wasn't difficult to intimidate someone into telling me." He shrugged, as if spreading terror was a normal thing as a Malfoy. Come to think of it, spreading terror _was_ a normal thing for a Malfoy. It was practically as natural as breathing to them.

Hermione knew exactly what he was thinking, and she shook her head at him, but couldn't stop the little smile on her lips. Just because he could easily intimidate people didn't mean he should abuse the ability all the time.

He pushed the chair back and gestured for her to come sit in his lap. Did he really know so little about her that he thought she'd actually obey him?

"Malfoy, there's no way I'm going to do something so unprofessional." She told him sternly, already walking over to him. He didn't even need _words_ to be persuasive and he used his powers for _evil_. Evil and _corruption_; before him, there was no way she'd allow herself to be so unprofessional at work.

She hesitated when she reached him, but Malfoy was having none of that. Grabbing her around the waist, he pulled her onto his lap, grinning smugly the entire time. "Most fun things are unprofessional, the key is to keep the employees so afraid of you that they don't even think to call you on it."

He nipped her collarbone to keep her from objecting, pleased that she had chosen a low-cut shirt, as it gave him an excellent view of her slim neck and the tops of her breasts. He would definitely be visiting her in her office more often.

Hermione wiggled happily and let out the occasional moan as Malfoy set about tasting, nipping and sucking every centimetre of flesh exposed by her shirt. It was Heaven, though he was anything but an angel.

A coughing sound made Hermione look up, immediately turn bright red and jump off Malfoy's lap. Standing in the doorway was one of Draco's hulking goons from school, and he had a knowing grin on his face that only made her blush more. She was really getting tired of receiving knowing looks.

"Not now Greg," Draco said dismissively as he tried to pull Hermione back to her earlier position.

She wasn't about to let him continue while they had an audience, they shouldn't even have started in the first place. She twisted out of his grasp and sat down in the visitor's chair on the other side of her desk, far out of the blonde's reach. The blonde shot her a look that clearly said 'this isn't over'.

"Yes now Draco!" The visitor snapped irritably. "I thought you were missing for weeks and then I hear from Owen that you were in the hospital for Splinching yourself, but otherwise you're perfectly fine. I had to hear it from my _boyfriend _whenI should've gotten an owl from _you! _I've been blaming myself for dragging you along to that dog show! I thought that had something to do with why you were missing." There was no mistaking the accusation in the man's tone, he blamed his friend for all the worry he'd suffered and Hermione could completely sympathise; Malfoy wasn't an easy person to care about, he was very... prickly most of the time.

As he continued, Hermione stood from her chair and edged towards the door. Malfoy was fine, he'd be discharged later in the day and she'd seen him then. He'd be irritated that she'd left, but he'd have to learn that she wasn't one of his lackeys that was just going to obey his commands – it seemed that even the lackeys didn't have to obey him if Goyle's actions were anything to judge from.

She made her way to the Floo and went back home with a big smile on her face the entire way. Everything felt light and bright and shiny like it had when Malfoy had dosed her with the cheering potion, except this time she knew her mood wasn't artificial. It was good Draco didn't turn into a shadow anymore, or her mood alone would probably make him disappear.

Ginny and Harry were waiting for her on the sofa when she appeared, stumbling out of the fireplace. They both had their arms crossed and seemed surprised that she looked so happy. "What happened?" Harry asked when she'd righted herself after her awkward entrance.

Hermione pulled a candy out of her pocket and popped it into her mouth; they somehow tasted better when Malfoy was there watching her eat them or eating them with her, but they were still pretty delicious the rest of the time. They served the added bonus of calming her down slightly. Lollipops were her cigarettes; they rotted her teeth instead of her lungs, but her parents hated them just the same.

Her friend's eyes widened. "Did you and Owen break up? You're eating candies again and looking much too happy for someone whose relationship is dead."

"That relationship was dead before it started," Hermione dismissed. "I met his boyfriend today, Gregory Goyle."

Ginny silently held her hand out to her fiancé with an expectant smile on her face. Grudgingly, Harry pressed a galleon into it and sheepishly looked back towards Hermione, expecting to be scolded. He was surprised when he only received a knowing grin.

"Does your mood have anything to with Malfoy's admission to the hospital?" Harry asked suspiciously. At Hermione's questioning look, he held up a copy of the paper, showing a picture of Malfoy and a dramatic headline about the dangers of alcohol and Apparation. Oh the scandal. At least that explained their unannounced presence in her living room. The press had taken a surprisingly long time running the story, but it wasn't like there were other reputable magical publications to get the scoop first. It seemed they'd even taken the time to consult experts on both Apparation while under the influence _and_ Splinching.

"Is that why you two are here?" Hermione asked when she was done scanning the article.

"Hermione, you two can't be in the same place without _something _dramatic happening. We weren't sure if you would be trying to murder each other or trying to rip each other's clothes off... It can go either way with you two. We're here to remind you not in front of witnesses whichever you choose." Ginny said. Harry looked like he'd rather be anywhere other than in her presence at the moment, but he nodded along with the redhead, in complete agreement.

Hermione's mood was too light to be crushed by the severe lack of faith her friends seemed to have in her self-restraint. Before she could comment, there was a knock at the door. Whoever it was at the door seemed impatient, the knob turned a moment later and Draco burst in.

Hermione had been half-way to the door to answer, but he just swept her up, pressed her against the wall and started snogging her senseless. Her feet weren't touching the ground, so she had nowhere to put them but around his waist. If he hadn't been so distracting, she'd have been mortified that her friends were watching, but she was quick to forget them.

He'd probably left without getting discharged from the hospital when he noticed that she was gone. She'd yell at him for it later when he wasn't - Oh! She moaned and pressed herself against him in the way she'd just done, smirking when he moaned as well this time. If this was going to be how he always distracted her so she didn't scold him, she was going to have to try to scold him more often; distractions were enjoyable.

"Hermione! What did Ginny _just_ say?" Harry yelled, looking like he wanted to bleach his eyes; it was probably something to do with the friend he liked to think of as a sister doing _very_ inappropriate things with his _enemy_ right in front of him.

Draco hadn't noticed her friends, but Harry's interruption made it obvious that they weren't alone. "Fuck off Potter." He said, looking away from Hermione for a moment to glare before going right back to what he's previously been doing. He wasn't about to let her run away just because they had an audience. She was _his_ now and the more people who knew, the better.

Harry turned red and looked like he wanted to hex Malfoy, but Hermione was wrapped around him, so he couldn't try without risking hitting his friend. Maybe something harmless just to make them _stop_? Ginny elbowed him sharply in the ribs and shook her head when he glanced down at her. She'd obviously guessed the direction his thoughts had been heading.

Hermione pulled her lips away from Draco to glare at Harry over the blonde's shoulder. It was hard to be coherent when Malfoy moved on to her neck, but she was proud of herself for managing. "This isn't public, this is my flat," she said, pulling her hands out of Draco's hair to make shooing motions with her hands.

Luckily, Ginny got the point and started dragging Harry towards the fireplace. "That blinkly light beepy thing was talking in your mum's voice... A monster ate your cousin's laptop and now he's afraid of shadows. It said he needs to come live with you for a few weeks until he's recovered." The redhead called before they disappeared into the emerald flames.

Hermione tensed for a moment, but then Draco found a particularly sensitive spot near her ear that made her melt against him; she would deal with everything else later, what mattered now was the she had Malfoy –Draco- and they were happy. At least until their next fight – it was just unrealistic to pretend there wasn't going to be one.

**The End.**

**A/N: Okay, I'm hoping at least a few of you are interested in the one shot that takes place not long after where this story ends. It's called **_**Shadow No More**_**and should be up soon, so keep an eye out! I'll give you a hint what it's about: Hermione tries something Luna's suggested and Chris makes a reappearance!**

**Also, ****for those of you who've read **_**Pansy's Revenge**_**, there's a scene in here that's similar to one in there... I actually wrote this story first and forgot how it ended. *blushes* I didn't even notice the similarities until I re-edited it just now. I'm not going to change it because I like it, but I'll be more careful in the future, kay?**

**~Frosty  
**


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